B.S., New Mexico State; J.D., University of Colorado
Mike Connor is a partner in the law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, LLP. His practice focuses on strategic advice and legal services to clients in matters involving water resources, public lands, energy development, environmental compliance, and Native American law. Before joining the firm in September 2017, he worked with the Walton Family Foundation as an Environment Program Fellow.
The majority of Professor Connor’s career has been spent in the public sector, holding several senior leadership and policy positions at the federal level. The most recent of these positions was serving in the Obama Administration as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior from 2014 until January 2017. As Deputy Secretary, Professor Connor was the second highest ranking official at the Interior Department with responsibilities as the Chief Operating Officer of an agency with more than 70,000 employees and an annual budget of approximately $13 billion. Professor Connor was a key leader in implementing the Administration’s priorities for the Department of the Interior, including water policy and strategies in the face of an unprecedented Western drought, developing science-based strategies in support of landscape-level management of public lands, and supporting actions to strengthen tribal governments and improve the federal government’s fulfillment of its trust responsibility to Native Americans.
Prior to being confirmed as Deputy Secretary, Professor Connor served as the Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation from 2009 to 2014. In that position, he led efforts to promote the sustainable use of water to effectively address challenges associated with water supply and power generation in the American West, including establishing programs to integrate climate science and resilience actions into water resource management. As Commissioner, he forged major Indian water rights settlements and worked to resolve water conflicts in California, New Mexico, Oregon and other western states. Professor Connor led the Department of the Interior’s efforts and completed two major binational agreements with Mexico on the Colorado River that have received international attention and acclaim. Professor Connor also directed Reclamation’s efforts to expand hydropower generation at existing facilities.
From 2001 until his confirmation as Reclamation Commissioner, Professor Connor served as Counsel to the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee where he helped enact a significant amount of legislation addressing issues involving both the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Survey, as well as Native American issues that were within the Energy Committee’s jurisdiction. Professor Connor previously served in the Department of the Interior from 1993 to 2001 in the Solicitor’s Office, and then as Director of the Secretary’s Indian Water Rights Office where he led Interior’s efforts on a number of important water rights settlements.
Professor Connor received his J.D. from the University of Colorado Law School and is admitted to the bars of Colorado and New Mexico. A native of New Mexico, he previously received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from New Mexico State University and worked for GE in its Power Generation and Major Appliance businesses.