SAN DIEGO (Press Release) — Alan Bersin, who became well known locally as U.S. Attorney in San Diego and later as San Diego’s School Superintendent, before going on to government service at the state and federal levels, will address the San Diego World Affairs Council at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, on the subject: “Immigration and Border Issues: The future is not what it used to be.”
At the federal level, Bersin served as Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security for Policy and International Affairs, DHS Chief Diplomatic Officer, and its border affairs expert between 2002 and 2017. His address will delivered at the Sanford Auditorium of National University, 11255 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla. Cost is $10 for council members; $15 for non-members.
Since leaving public service in January 2017, Alan Bersin has served at the global law firm of Covington & Burling as a Senior Advisor to the firm; as an Inaugural Fellow in the Homeland Security Project at the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government; and as a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington D.C. Bersin serves on the Board of Directors of the Seguritech Group based in Mexico City and is Vice Chairman of the Board of Seguritech North America based in Washington D.C. He is a founder and the Chairman of the BorderWorks Advisory consulting firm.
During his government service at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), between 2002 and 2017, Bersin served (at various times) as Assistant Secretary for Policy & International Affairs and Chief Diplomatic Officer; as Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection; and as Assistant Secretary and Special Representative for Border Affairs. Between 2012 and 2015, Bersin served as Vice President of INTERPOL for the Americas Region and as a member of the INTERPOL Executive Committee. Prior to his DHS experience, Bersin served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California for nearly five years, during which time he was the Attorney General’s Southwest Border Representative responsible for coordinating federal law enforcement on the border from South Texas to Southern California.
Bersin has also held numerous distinguished state and local government positions, including serving as California’s Secretary of Education, Superintendent of Public Education in San Diego, and Chairman of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. Before entering public service, Bersin was a senior partner in the law firm of Munger Tolles & Olson. He received his A.B. (magna cum laude) from Harvard College from where he was selected as a member of the All-Ivy, All-New England and All-East Football Teams and was inducted in 1995 into the Harvard Varsity Club Hall of Fame. From 1969 to 1971, Mr. Bersin attended Balliol College at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. In 1974, he received his J.D. degree from the Yale Law School.
*
Preceding provided by the San Diego World Affairs Council, www.sdwac.org