Tom Strickland

In March, 2013, Strickland was appointed by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to serve on the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Board (NFWF), which was recently designated by the United States Department of Justice to distribute the $2.5 billion in criminal penalties from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to the five Gulf Coast States.

Strickland joined Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in 2011 and is a partner in the firm's Regulatory and Government Affairs, Litigation/Controversy and Securities Departments. His practice focuses on a range of matters at the intersection of law, business, and government policy, including government enforcement cases, Congressional and internal investigations, corporate governance, and high-stakes crisis management matters. Additionally, he has particular expertise in natural resources and environmental law, health care regulation and securities law.

On January 21, 2009, it was announced that Strickland had accepted an appointment to serve in President Barack Obama's administration as the chief of staff and Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks in the Department of the Interior. On his retirement from the Department of the Interior he was praised by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and by the editorial board of The Denver Post for his role in America's Great Outdoors Program which is modeled after the popular and successful Great Outdoors Colorado program. America's Great Outdoors, which led to the passage of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, was heralded as one of the most important conservation measures in decades. His work on restoration of the Everglades, protecting the bluefin tuna, and the environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was cited.

On April 24, 2007, he was appointed executive vice president and chief legal officer of UnitedHealth Group, a diversified health and well-being company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and serving more than 70 million individuals nationwide. He was brought in as part of a new management team following a "stock options backdating scandal" and was credited for having "cleaned up the backdating mess." At UnitedHealth, he managed an in-house team of 200 attorneys and a nationwide team of outside counsel. He was responsible for all legal, regulatory and compliance matters and implemented a number of corporate governance initiatives.

The 2002 election for the U.S. Senate, with the same candidates running, resulted in a narrow victory for Allard. A record-breaking total of $9 million was raised by the candidates. The campaign was characterized by mutual accusations that the other candidate was linked with a powerful communications company, Allard with Qwest and Strickland with Global Crossing. Allard's winning strategy was to characterize Strickland as a "millionaire-lawyer-lobbyist." Strickland ran on moderate positions. Both candidates had help from prominent party leaders, Allard being helped by President George W. Bush.

Strickland's most notable cases include the prosecution of 25 people associated with a major cocaine distribution ring outside of Colorado Springs, Colo., the indictment of 42 people associated with a motorcycle gang, and the indictment of representatives from three drug running organizations in one of the largest drug roundups in the state's history. In 2000, he prosecuted of the largest drug bust in Longmont's history, an investigation that grew to include California and Nebraska and involved the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Attorney's office, the Federal Housing Authority and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The United States Senate election in Colorado in 1996 was for the open seat which resulted from the retirement of Hank Brown. Strickland had represented the Sierra Club and had served on the regional board of the Environmental Defense Fund; he was endorsed by nearly every environmental group in Colorado; however, his Republican opponent, Wayne Allard, who had an abysmal environmental record, borrowed a tactic from Strickland's law partner, Steve Farber, and painted him as "the polluters' lawyer" in commercials based on research of his record of legal work for numerous clients over a ten-year legal career. He could only reply by referencing his duty to represent his clients' interests zealously. He fell behind in the polls and eventually lost.

From 1982 to 1984 Strickland served as director of policy for Colorado Governor Richard Lamm, advising the governor on all policy and intergovernmental issues. He went on to serve and chair the Colorado Transportation Commission from 1985 to 1989. Strickland was, with Ken Salazar, one of the founders and a board member of Great Outdoors Colorado, a lottery-funded endowment for Colorado's public parks created in 1992.

In 1977 he graduated with honors from the University of Texas School of Law then clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Carl Olaf Bue Jr. in the Southern District of Texas. Prior to his appointment as U.S. Attorney Strickland was associated for 15 years with what was then Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber & Strickland rising to named partner. The firm was a prominent Colorado law firm noted for its political connections.

Thomas Lee Strickland (born May 16, 1952) is an American lawyer who was formerly chief of staff to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks in the Interior Department. Strickland served as United States Attorney for Colorado and was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate for Colorado in 1996 and 2002. He joined WilmerHale as a partner in September, 2011.