Susan Tsui Grundmann, Chairperson
Chairperson Grundmann became a Member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) in May 2022, and was designated as Chairman of the FLRA in January 2023. Prior to her confirmation as an FLRA Member, Ms. Grundmann served as the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, where she oversaw the administrative dispute resolution process and provided education to both employing offices and labor unions that represent employees in the legislative branch. Previously, she was nominated by President Obama to serve as a Member and Chairman of the MSPB.
Ms. Grundmann has served as General Counsel to the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), which represents 100,000 Federal workers nationwide and is affiliated with the International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers. At NFFE, she successfully litigated cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. She represented NFFE and the United Department of Defense Workers Coalition, which consists of 36 labor unions, and served on the Coalition’s litigation team in a coordinated response to proposed personnel changes at the Department of Defense (DoD). In addition to DoD employees, Ms. Grundmann represented employees in the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, Passport Service, Veterans Administration, General Services Administration, and some 25 additional Federal agencies.
From 2003 to 2009, she was a regular instructor on Federal sector labor and employment law at the William W. Winpisinger Education and Technology Center in Hollywood, Maryland. Prior to joining NFFE, Ms. Grundmann served as General Counsel to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. She began her legal career as a law clerk to the judges of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit of Virginia, and later worked in both private practice and at the Sheet Metal Workers’ National Pension Fund.
Chairperson Grundmann earned her undergraduate degree at American University and her law degree at Georgetown University Law Center.
Garber A. Davidson, Jr., Member
Garber Davidson is an attorney with experience in both the public and private sectors, and has worked with public institutions in a wide variety of areas. He began his career as an associate with a major firm in Baltimore where he practiced commercial litigation, and also represented pro bono clients of the firm. Subsequently he joined the Office of the General Counsel at U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) where he served in a wide variety of positions both in Washington and at posts overseas.
As an attorney for USAID, Mr. Davidson served as a Regional Legal Advisor to overseas missions. In this capacity, he worked with USAID project managers to ensure compliance with U.S. procurement rules and regulations in the implementation of country aid programs. Those projects included both the construction of major infrastructure and technical assistance and training for foreign nationals. Mr. Davidson advised both U.S. contractors and grantees on issues related to USAID regulations, as well as rules established by the host countries affecting specific projects. His duties while a regional officer included travel to three countries in the Middle East, all of which received a significant amount of U.S. assistance. Each country in the region had its own methods of using of foreign assistance, and this required Mr. Davidson to tailor his advice to match the country’s prerogatives. Coordination of procedures between USAID missions and planning ministries in recipient countries was essential to achieve successful implementation of programs.
Mr. Davidson was appointed as Assistant General Counsel for the Near East and later for Latin America and Caribbean. His duties in those positions involved managing regional attorneys in the respective regions. He was responsible for backstopping attorneys in some of USAID’s largest missions, including Egypt, Jordan and Bolivia. In addition to his role as an attorney, he was appointed as Deputy Mission Director to USAID Bolivia where he oversaw a staff of 30 USAID officers and local employees. He had management responsibility for the Mission’s crop substitution projects in the coca producing regions of Bolivia, and in this role dealt with relevant officers at the Embassy, including the Ambassador, the DEA representative, and the Political and Economic attaches. Upon returning to Washington, Mr. Davidson was selected to be Vice President for USAID at the American Foreign Service Association. After he retired from USAID, he joined a private consulting firm in Washington, and became program manager for rule of law contracts in the former Soviet Union, including Ukraine and countries in central Asia.
Mr. Davidson attended the University of California at Berkeley where he earned a Bachelor degree in Political Science and a Masters in European History. He attended law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was an Associate Editor of the University of North Carolina Law Review.
Cheryl M. Long, Member
Cheryl M. Long is a retired judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, serving from her 1988 Senate confirmation until her retirement in December 2009. Judge Long presided over cases in every division of the Court: Criminal, Civil, Family, Probate, and Tax. She also has sat by designation several times on panels of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, both before and after her retirement.
Following her retirement from the bench, Judge Long was engaged as an arbitrator and mediator in both the public and private sectors. She was a member of the Foreign Service Grievance Board, from 2012 to 2020, appointed to successive terms by Secretaries Clinton, Kerry, and Pompeo. Within the Legislative Branch, Judge Long served as a hearing officer for the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights. She adjudicated administrative claims under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995. In that role she applied Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and over a dozen other civil rights laws to covered employees of the United States Senate, the House of Representatives, Capitol Police, Library of Congress, Architect of the Capitol, and other employing offices. As a private mediator and arbitrator of employment disputes and commercial cases, Judge Long was an independent neutral with The McCammon Group. She has also worked as a private arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.
Judge Long commenced her career as a law clerk for Hon. Spottswood W. Robinson, III on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, during the 1974-75 Term. She then worked as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, prosecuting cases in the federal and local courts. From 1980 to 1982, she was a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the United States Attorney’s Office, defending federal agencies primarily in personnel litigation and challenges to the awards of government contracts. She later served as a trial attorney at the Department of Justice. In 1985, the Board of Trustees of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia appointed Judge Long to be the agency’s new Director. At that time, she became the first African-American woman to head a public defender office in any major American city. As the Director, she employed and managed 61 attorneys and a 62-person support staff.
Judge Long received her undergraduate degree from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. In 2009, the Law Center honored Judge Long with the Paul R. Dean Award, for professional excellence in her public service career. Judge Long is a Member Emerita of the Board of Visitors of the Law Center.