Press Releases

Chairman Hensarling Names Senior Staff for Financial Services Committee


Washington, January 3, 2013 - Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling on Thursday announced the team of veteran senior staffers who will help him lead the committee during the 113th Congress.

“Our members are fortunate to have such a talented team serving in these key positions,” said Chairman Hensarling.  “We will tackle a very busy agenda this year focused on reviving and strengthening the American economy and fostering the deepest, most liquid and innovative capital markets the world has ever known.  I look forward to working with this highly capable and experienced group of senior committee staff leaders.”

Shannon McGahn – Staff Director

McGahn first joined the committee as Deputy Staff Director for Communications during the Dodd-Frank negotiations in 2010.  She returned to the committee in 2012 as Deputy Staff Director for Strategy and Public Affairs and to assist Chairman Bachus as a member of the committee’s senior management team.   Prior to working for the committee, McGahn handled communications for three leadership offices, serving as spokesman for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and, most recently, as Communications Director for Chairman Hensarling at the House Republican Conference. 

Jim Clinger – Chief Counsel

Clinger will serve as the Committee’s Chief Counsel, a position he has held since 2007.  Clinger first joined the staff of what was then called the House Banking Committee in 1995.  He served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General and then Acting Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2005-2007 before being appointed as the Financial Services Committee’s Republican Chief Counsel in 2007.

Kirsten Mork – Deputy Staff Director

Mork has served as a Financial Services Policy Advisor to Chairman Hensarling since May 2009, assisting him during the development of the Dodd-Frank Act, and as his Legislative Director since July of 2010.  Prior to joining the Hensarling team, she worked as a financial services policy advisor to both Congressman Tom Price and Congressman Peter Roskam.

Jeff Emerson – Deputy Staff Director for Communications

Emerson joined the Financial Services Committee as Deputy Staff Director for Communications in January 2011.  He previously served as Communications Director for Alabama Governor Bob Riley during Riley’s two terms in office and as Chief of Staff for Congressman Spencer Bachus.

Travis Norton – Parliamentarian and General Counsel

Norton comes to the Financial Services Committee from the House Judiciary Committee, where he has served as Parliamentarian and General Counsel since December 2011.  Prior to that, Norton was Counsel to the Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law for two years and an associate at the law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in Boston.

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