WASHINGTON -- J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration,

today announced the appointment of two legal executives to TIGTA.

Michael T. McCarthy was named as TIGTA's Chief Counsel and Gladys M. Hernandez was

named Deputy Chief Counsel.

TIGTA's Office of Chief Counsel provides legal guidance, advice and disclosure services to

support TIGTA's mission of overseeing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and protecting the

integrity of tax administration. The Office is comprised of attorneys, analysts and support

personnel providing a full range of legal and disclosure services.

McCarthy is TIGTA's third Chief Counsel since the agency was created by Congress in 1998.

McCarthy joins TIGTA from the Administrative Conference of the United States, where he was

Executive Director. He previously held several positions on Capitol Hill and other government

agencies.

"Mike brings a broad spectrum of knowledge to the position of Chief Counsel," Inspector

General George said. "His experience as a senior staff member for the House Committee on

Oversight and Government Reform and his noteworthy legal credentials will add value to

TIGTA's legal team."

Hernandez joined TIGTA as an attorney in 2000 and has held managerial positions in the Office

of Chief Counsel.

"With her institutional knowledge of TIGTA, Gladys is a natural choice to join the Senior

Executive Service as Deputy Chief Counsel," George said. "I am proud to have Gladys as part of

TIGTA's executive team."

Inspector General George also thanked senior attorney Margaret "Micki" Martin, who served as

Acting Chief Counsel prior to McCarthy's selection. "I am extremely grateful to Micki for her

dedicated service in this role," George said.

Michael T. McCarthy

Prior to joining TIGTA, McCarthy was Executive Director of the Administrative Conference of

the United States, an independent Federal agency dedicated to improving the administrative

process through consensus-driven applied research, providing nonpartisan expert advice and

recommendations for improvement of Federal agency procedures.

McCarthy also worked on Capitol Hill as General Counsel and Deputy Staff Director for the

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, where he managed legislative and

oversight activities to make Federal programs more efficient and to reduce waste and fraud.

He previously was Staff Director and Chief Counsel for the panel's Subcommittee on

Government Management, where he drafted and negotiated the passage of legislation to reform

Federal contracting and the inspector general system. He was also counsel to the Committee on

investigations of the Hurricane Katrina response and Iraq reconstruction contracting.

McCarthy has served in all three branches of the Federal Government, with previous Executive

branch service at the Justice Department, Labor Department, and National Archives. He was law

clerk to U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema (E.D. Va.), where he worked on national security

cases, including U.S. v. Zacarias Moussaoui.

McCarthy graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and received his undergraduate

degree from Georgetown University, where he was a Big East All-Academic swimmer. He and

his family live in Washington, D.C.

Gladys M. Hernandez

Prior to joining TIGTA in 2000, Hernandez was an attorney with the Federal Service Impasses

Panel, where she handled collective bargaining disputes between Federal labor unions and

Federal agencies. Hernandez also worked as an attorney for the Overseas Education

Association, NEA (now the Federal Education Association), where she represented teachers

working in Department of Defense schools both in the United States and overseas.

Hernandez graduated from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law and

received her undergraduate degree in history from Georgetown University. She and her family

live in Northern Virginia.