REGINA STEPHENS NAMED EEOC’S

Chief Administrative Judge

Chief Administrative Judge Leads Agency’s National Hearing Program

Regina Stephens ’87 has been named to the newly created senior executive position of chief administrative judge in the Office of Field Programs, the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

The chief administrative judge position was created to ensure a focused senior-level attention at the headquarters level for the agency’s National Hearings Program to support the administration’s wholeof-government approach to equity and civil rights. The National Hearings Program provides administrative hearing services for federal employees’ equal employment opportunity complaints, under Section 717 of Title VII, Section 15 of the Age Discrimination Employment Act (ADEA), and Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, when requested after investigations by federal departments or agencies. As chief administrative judge, Stephens will guide the program to accomplish its mission innovatively and equitably, with a particular emphasis on planning and policy development, and determining program priorities and quality assurance.

“As the nation’s largest employer, the federal government provides the federal community with an independent administrative process to address workplace violations of the laws enforced by EEOC,” said Stephens. “I am excited to lead the EEOC’s federal sector administrative hearings program, and to address these claims in a fair, effective, and efficient forum.”

“Ms. Stephens’ work at the EEOC in federal sector programs has provided her with a wealth of experience and an in-depth knowledge needed to lead this

“Having her share her expertise and commitment in this important new role will be invaluable, as we shape the future of the federal equal employment opportunity hearings process, and to better serve workers throughout the federal government.”

— Charlotte A. Burrows, EEOC Chair

important function,” said EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows. “Having her share her expertise and commitment in this important new role will be invaluable, as we shape the future of the federal equal employment opportunity hearings process, and to better serve workers throughout the federal government.”

Stephens, a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and NCCU School of Law, began her career with the EEOC as an appellate attorney in Washington, D.C., where she worked in the Office of Review and Appeals, now the Office of Federal Operations. After several years in Washington, D.C., she returned to the Charlotte District Office as an administrative judge, and was later promoted to supervisory administrative judge where she managed the federal sector hearings program for Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Before her selection, she was a member of the Office of Field Programs senior staff where she served as a National Hearings program manager.

By Asia A. Skyers ’23

In Connecticut, the Skyers family has forged a special connection to NCCU School of Law. In 1989, NCCU School of Law opened its historic halls and admitted the first member of the Skyers family, Eroll V. Skyers. Eroll traveled all the way from the state of Connecticut to matriculate as a 1L at NCCU School of Law. Eroll enjoyed the rigorous curriculum and the challenges of the C minus rule so much that he enticed his younger sister Sharon to follow his lead. Sharon Skyers entered NCCU School of Law in 1990 and graduated in 1993, the year after Eroll. Thereafter, the law firm of Skyers & Skyers was established in Bridgeport, Conn., in 1993. A few years later in 1995, Eroll and Sharon’s youngest sister, Shirley Skyers matriculated as a 1L at NCCU School of Law. Eroll is the class of 1992, Sharon is the class of 1993 and Shirley is the class of 1999. Shirley was a graduate of the inaugural JD/MBA dual degree program at the university.

Today, the law firm now Skyers, Skyers & Harrell, LLC, has a distinctive history of serving clients for over thirty years. Eroll has a wide range of trial experience in personal injury law and criminal law on both the state and federal levels. He has made a career of persuading juries to generously find in favor