Last month, President Biden announced his intent to nominate NOSSCR member Kate Lang to serve on the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB). 

Kate is the Director of Federal Income Security at Justice in Aging in Washington, DC, where her advocacy has focused on improving the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs, centering on the needs of people of color, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, those living with disabilities, immigrants, and those with limited English proficiency. The Board position is subject to Senate confirmation; if confirmed, Kate would serve until September 2026. 

NOSSCR congratulates Kate on this well-deserved honor! 

President Biden also renominated Sharon Lewis and Andrew G. Biggs for terms on the Social Security Advisory Board last month. They were both nominated in the 117^th Congress but the Senate failed to act on their nominations so they needed to be renominated in the current Congress.

If confirmed by the Senate, Lewis would serve until September 30, 2028, and Biggs would serve until September 30, 2030. Biggs has been nominated to finish the term of Lahnee J. Chan through September 2024 and then to a full six-year term of his own. Below are the biographies of all three nominees.

Kathryn Lang, Nominee for Member of the Social Security Advisory Board

Kathryn Lang serves as Director of Federal Income Security in the Washington, DC, Office of Justice in Aging, a national non-profit legal advocacy organization that uses the power of law to fight senior poverty.

Since joining Justice in Aging, her advocacy has focused on improving the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs, centering on the needs of people of color, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, those living with disabilities, immigrants, and those with limited English proficiency. Her areas of expertise include improving access to SSI benefits, the representative payee program, and language access issues at the Social Security Administration.

Prior to joining Justice in Aging, Lang was an attorney at the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau in Riverdale, Maryland, where she was an advocate for low-income older adults and persons with disabilities for several years. In previous positions, she worked as an attorney at the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, Bread for the City Legal Clinic, and Doherty, Cella, Keane, and Associates, LLP, all in Washington, DC.

She also served as a staff attorney at Legal Services of Northern California. She received her B.A. from Oberlin College and her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law. She also has a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in teaching English to speakers of other languages.

Andrew G. Biggs, Nominee for Member of the Social Security Advisory Board

Andrew G. Biggs is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he studies Social Security reform, state and local government pensions, and public sector pay and benefits.

Before joining AEI, Biggs was the Principal Deputy Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), where he oversaw SSA’s policy research efforts. As an Associate Director of the White House National Economic Council in 2005, he worked on Social Security reform. In 2001, he joined the staff of the President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security.

Biggs has been interviewed on radio and television as an expert on retirement issues and on public versus private sector compensation. He has published widely in academic publications as well as in daily newspapers such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. He has also testified before Congress on numerous occasions.

In 2013, the Society of Actuaries appointed Biggs co-vice chair of a blue-ribbon panel tasked with analyzing the causes of underfunding in public pension plans and how governments can securely fund plans in the future. In 2014, Institutional Investor Magazine named him one of the 40 most influential people in the retirement world. In 2016, he was appointed by President Obama to be a member of the financial control board overseeing reforms to Puerto Rico’s budget and the restructuring of the island’s debts.

Sharon Lewis, Nominee for Member of the Social Security Advisory Board

Sharon Lewis is a Principal at Health Management Associates, where she consults with government entities, providers, and advocates to advance opportunities for people with disabilities to fully participate in all aspects of their communities.

Before that, Lewis served nearly six years in presidentially appointed roles at the Department of Health and Human Services. There, she was one of the chief architects of the Administration for Community Living and worked to improve access to quality integrated home and community-based services by working with states, stakeholders, and other federal agencies, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Social Security Administration, and the Departments of Labor, Education, Transportation, and Justice.

Before joining the Obama administration, Lewis worked as a Senior Disability Policy Advisor to the House Committee on Education & Labor and as a Kennedy Public Policy Fellow for the Senate HELP Subcommittee on Children and Families. Lewis is the recipient of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Chairman’s Award and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis.