Staff
Claude G.B. Fontheim
Claude Fontheim is BCGD’s Senior Adviser and the CEO of Fontheim International, LLC.
Claude advises clients regarding global corporate social responsibility and public policy. He has over 30 years of experience in these fields and was among the first CSR practitioners.
Claude serves on boards of directors or advisory boards of the following organizations:
- GlobalWorks Foundation (Programs addressing globalization, including international trade, economic development, and labor and human rights in global supply chains), Co-Founder and Non-Executive Chairman
- GoodWeave International (human rights and child welfare NGO), Vice Chairman, Board of Directors
- Alliance to End Hunger, Executive Committee, Board of Directors
- Center for International Private Enterprise (Business community affiliate of the National Endowment for Democracy), Executive Committee, Board of Directors
- The NewDEAL (national organization of center-left state and local elected officials), Chairman, Governance Committee, Board of Directors
- InterAction (the leading association of development NGOs), Business Advisory Council
- University of Michigan – Michigan in Washington Program, Board of Advisors
See also comments on Claude’s work:
Claude previously served on the President’s Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations, the U.S. Trade Representative’s Trade Advisory Committee on Africa, and the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy. He was also Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council’s Project on the Global Economy and International Trade.
Claude has published numerous articles, including on international trade, corporate social responsibility, and labor policy. These articles have appeared in Blueprint magazine, PR Week, various scholarly journals, and he authored the chapter on European telecommunications policy and regulation in the American Enterprise Institute series, “The United States Faces a United Europe,” and the concluding chapter of Trade Policy: The Lawyer’s Perspective of which he was co-editor.
Claude has also spoken widely on these topics, including these appearances:
Claude has served as an advisor on trade, economic and foreign policy to Presidential and Congressional campaigns.
Claude received his J.D., M.P.P., and B.A. from the University of Michigan. He was Managing Editor of Michigan’s international law publication.
Jonathan Alexander
Jon Alexander is a Senior Adviser to BCGD and President/CEO of Monument Strategies, LLC.
Jon founded Monument Strategies in 2005 after serving for five years in a senior-level position at a large public affairs and lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. Jon has a high level of expertise in the area of appropriations, higher education, health care, and transportation.
Jon has served in senior-level positions with several Democratic Members of Congress including serving as Legislative Director for Representative Joe Kennedy (D-MA) and Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD). He also worked for two years for former Representative Cal Dooley (D-CA) prior to entering law school.
He served in the Congressional Affairs office of the U.S. Customs Service during the Clinton Administration – at which time he served on the Presidential Interagency Commission on Seaport. Jon continues to develop relationships with influential officials involved in appropriations, education, health care, and transportation issues, including close relationships with many members of the appropriate Committees and their staffs.
Jon is a graduate of Guilford College in Greensboro, NC and holds a J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, MN. He is a member of the Maryland State Bar.
Eric Biel
Eric Biel is a Senior Adviser to BCGD and Fontheim International, LLC,.
Mr. Biel completed five years of service in January 2017 at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), where as Associate Deputy Undersecretary he led ILAB’s work on a diverse set of projects, including global supply chain issues and engagement with foreign governments and other stakeholders on a range of labor law and policy matters. Since leaving government he has worked on projects with business, law, and non-profit groups, while speaking at several law and public policy schools.
From 2000-11, Mr. Biel held a variety of positions outside of government, including Managing Director for Corporate Responsibility at Burson-Marsteller; Deputy Washington Director and Senior Counsel at Human Rights First; and Senior Vice President and General Counsel at the Fontheim International consulting firm.
Prior government service from 1990-2000 included Deputy Undersecretary for Trade Policy and heading the Office of Policy and Strategic Planning at the U.S. Department of Commerce; Executive Director of the bipartisan Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy; and Trade Counsel at the Senate Finance Committee. Before that, Mr. Biel was an attorney in private practice for five years.
Since 2008, he has taught a course at the Georgetown University Law Center on “Human Rights at the Intersection of Trade and Corporate Responsibility” that examines a range of business and human rights issues. He has a B.A. degree from Johns Hopkins and a joint J.D.-M.P.A. degree from Yale Law School and the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton.