Senator Ron Wyden, the incoming chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has named longtime aide Joshua Sheinkman as the committee’s next staff director. As staff director, Sheinkman will lead the committee’s work to move the U.S. toward a low-carbon economy, improve management of public lands and bolster the nation’s energy security. 

Sheinkman has served as legislative director to Senator Wyden since 2006. He originally joined the staff of then-Congressman Wyden in 1993 as counsel and advisor on environment, energy and transportation policy.  In the 109^th Congress, when Senator Wyden joined the Senate Finance Committee, Sheinkman added tax counsel to his portfolio. Along with Senator Wyden, he co-authored "A Road Map for Environmental Law in the Twenty-First Century: Follow the Oregon Trail," Environmental Law (2000).  As a practicing attorney, he published several articles on environmental issues, including Liability of Lenders under CERCLA, Real Estate Finance Journal (1990) and Banks, Bailouts and Cleanup Bills, Real Estate Finance Journal (1992). Mr. Sheinkman earned his law degree in 1987 from New York University School of Law, where he was an editor of the Review of Law and Social Change.  He graduated cum laude from Harvard College in 1982.