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Foreign Service Impasse Disputes Panel Biographies

Martin Malin, Chair

(Federal Service Impasses Panel Member, FSIDP term expiring on November 16, 2024)

Martin H. Malin is Professor Emeritus at Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, where he taught for 41 years, founded the Institute for Law and the Workplace, and served as Director of the Institute for 25 years. He joined the Chicago-Kent faculty in 1980 after serving as law clerk to United States District Judge Robert E. DeMascio in Detroit and on the faculty of The Ohio State University.

A renowned scholar on the law governing the workplace, he has published more than 80 articles and seven books on labor law. Professor Malin has served as National Chair of the Labor Relations and Employment Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools, Secretary of the ABA Section on Labor and Employment Law, member of the Executive Committee of the Labor Law Group, member of the Board of Governors and Vice President of the National Academy of Arbitrators, and member of the Board of Governors of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.

In October 2009, President Obama appointed Professor Malin as a member of the Federal Service Impasses Panel. President Obama reappointed Professor Malin in 2014 and Malin served until May 2017. In 2016, the ABA presented Professor Malin with the Arvid Anderson Award for lifetime contributions to public sector labor law. In 2021, President Biden appointed Professor Malin as Chair of the Federal Service Impasses Panel.

Professor Malin has a B.A. from Michigan State University and a J.D. from George Washington University.

Christine Pagen

(Foreign Service Member, FSIDP term expiring on November 16, 2024)

Christine Pagen is a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development. She currently is the Deputy Director of the Center for Education in the Bureau of Development, Democracy, and Innovation. She has served in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Jordan, Kenya, and Lebanon.

Dr. Pagen has a Ph.D. from Columbia University, an M.A. from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame. 

Brandi A. Peters

(Department of Labor Member, FSIDP term expiring on November 16, 2024)

Brandi A. Peters is a seasoned litigator in the federal employment law arena having represented federal agencies before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Merit Systems Protection Board, FLRA, and Federal Service Impasses Panel, as well as partnership with U.S. Assistant United States Attorneys in federal court litigation. She has over 17 years of federal employment law experience, currently serving as the Counsel for Employment Law at the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Solicitor, Management and Administrative Legal Services Division in Washington, DC.

Brandi previously served as supervisory attorney with the National Labor Relations Board’s Office of General Counsel, and from 2004-2019 as a senior counsel in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA), Office of the General Counsel where she helped lead the employment law team for 6 years, following 11 years as an employment law litigator and advisor at USDA.  

Mrs. Peters is a graduate of the University Tennessee, Knoxville with a B.A. in Speech Communications and holds a J.D. from the Howard University School of Law. 

Jay R. Raman

(Foreign Service Member, for a second FSIDP term, expiring on November 16, 2024)

Jay R. Raman is a career member of the Foreign Service. He joined the State Department in 2002 and currently works as a Director of the Office of International Media Engagement in the Bureau of Global Public Affairs.  He has served overseas in Colombia, Cambodia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Estonia, and the Dominican Republic. From 2017-2019, he was Director of the Cultural Programs Division in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Mr. Raman has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in International Studies from the University of Tennessee.

John L. Woods, Jr.

(Public Member, FSIDP term expiring on November 16, 2024, vice Ambassador Richard Terrell Miller)

John L. Woods Jr. is an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Law Professor and Co-Director of the ADR Program at Howard University School of Law.  His international ADR practice areas include: Arbitration, Mediation, Fact-Finding, as well as serving as an Ombudsman. He has served or currently serves as a panel arbitrator and/or mediator for a number of organizations including: United Nations (UN), Arbitration Foundation of South Africa (AFSA), the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce, Major League Baseball (MLB), U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), U.S. Postal Service and Postal Police Officer’s Association, New York City Department of Education and United Federation of Teachers,  City of Baltimore Civil Service Commission, Frito Lay (Pepsico), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), American Arbitration Association (AAA), and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS).

John’s ADR practice also includes conducting civil and human rights investigations. He has led or served as a member of fact-finding missions to Algeria, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Morocco, Spain, and the Western Sahara. John created the Integrated Stakeholder Model for Human Rights Investigations. This model has been used as the guiding methodology for various human rights fact-finding missions.

John has developed Ombuds programs and served as both a corporate and a college Ombudsman. He has also conducted ADR training and designed ADR systems in North America, South America, Europe, and Africa.

John formerly served as Supervisory Federal Civil Rights Investigator, Chief Mediator, and Director of Dispute Resolution Programs for the U.S. Federal Government.  He is also a former Commissioner and Adjudicator for the District of Columbia (appointed by Mayor Muriel Bowser and confirmed by the DC City Council).  John is currently the Chairman of the National Bar Association’s International Partnership Committee and a Member of the National Academy of Arbitrators (NAA).  John is the Chairman of AFCA, a nongovernmental organization that services Africa and the Caribbean.

John received a Juris Doctorate Degree from Howard University School of Law, a Masters Degree from New York University, and a Bachelors Degree from the State University of New York at Albany.