56th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
Speaker Mike Johnson is the 56th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a Republican member of Congress proudly serving Louisiana’s Fourth District. On October 25, 2023, he was elected unanimously by his House Republican colleagues to serve as the Speaker. After a tenure of less than 6.8 years in the House, Mike was given the honor faster than any person in history except for Speaker John G. Carlisle in 1883, who had previously served for only 6.75 years. As a Member of Congress, he represents the nearly 760,000 residents of 16 parishes in the northwest and western regions of his state. Mike was first elected to Congress on December 10, 2016, by the largest margin of victory in his region in more than 50 years and is currently serving in his fourth term in Congress.
Prior to being Speaker, Mike was elected by his colleagues to serve as Vice Chairman of the House Republican Conference, one of the seven elected leadership positions for Republicans in the House of Representatives, as well as Deputy Whip. He was also previously honored to serve as chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus of conservatives in Congress, known as “the intellectual arsenal of conservatism in the House.”
With two decades of previous experience in Constitutional law, Mike previously served on the House Judiciary Committee, and as chairman of its Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government. He also served as a leader on the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, the House Natural Resources Committee, and the House Armed Services Committee. His district includes important military installations, including Barksdale Air Force Base, headquarters of the Air Force Global Strike Command, and Fort Johnson (formerly Fort Polk) and the Army’s Joint Readiness Training Center, as well as the Louisiana National Guard’s Camp Minden Training Site and other assets.
Mike is a dedicated husband and father and an attorney who has devoted his life and career to fighting for the fundamental freedoms and traditional values that have made America the greatest nation in the history of the world. He spent nearly 20 years successfully litigating high profile constitutional law cases in district and appellate courts nationwide, and previously served in the Louisiana Legislature (2015-17).
The eldest son of a Shreveport firefighter who was critically burned and permanently disabled in the line of duty, Mike learned early on the values of hard work, honor, and sacrifice. He has a practical understanding of the challenges that small business owners face because he, like his parents and grandparents, is one himself. Mike has also been a college professor, conservative talk radio host and columnist, a media spokesman for America’s largest religious liberty organizations, a constitutional law seminar instructor, a board member and legal counsel for national organizations and numerous community groups and ministries.
Mike earned his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Louisiana State University in 1995, and his Juris Doctorate from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University in 1998. He and his wife Kelly, a former school teacher and now a Licensed Pastoral Counselor, have been married since 1999, and have four children, Hannah, Abigail, Jack and Will, and an older son Michael, who became a part of their family in 1999. Today, they reside in Bossier Parish.
General Counsel, Office of Speaker Mike Johnson
Ashley Callen has served in the legislative and executive branches for nearly 25 years. Currently, she serves as General Counsel to Speaker Mike Johnson. Prior to her current role, she was General Counsel to Majority Leader Steve Scalise. She got to know Leader Scalise during the 117th Congress serving as the top staffer on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis as well as serving then-Ranking Member James Comer as Deputy Staff Director of the Oversight and Reform Committee. Ashley has also served as a top oversight and investigations staffer at the House Agriculture Committee (Chairman Mike Conaway), the Science Space and Technology Committee (Chairman Lamar Smith), and the House Judiciary Committee (Ranking Member Doug Collins). She began her career on the Senate side working for her home state senator, Strom Thurmond. After the Senator retired in 2003, Ashley worked for the Air Force General Counsel’s Office. Ashley earned her BA in English at the University of South Carolina and her JD at the Antonin Scalia Law School. She lives in Arlington, VA with her husband and three children
Partner, Mayer Brown
Kimberly Hamm is a partner in Mayer Brown’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution and Public Policy, Regulatory & Government Affairs practices. She also leads the firm’s congressional investigations group. Prior to joining Mayer Brown, Kim served as the General Counsel to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy where she provided strategic guidance to House committees on congressional investigations and oversight, including issuance and enforcement of committee subpoenas to agencies and private parties. Before joining Speaker McCarthy’s senior team, Kim worked in the public policy group of a global asset management firm, where she led advocacy and external engagement in the areas of financial stability, corporate governance, and regulatory frameworks impacting mutual funds. Kim also served as Republican Chief Counsel for Investigations for the Senate Committee on Rules & Administration.
From 2019 to 2021, Kim was chief counsel to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, where she oversaw regulatory initiatives across all divisions of the SEC, including the issuance of more than 45 final rules. She also advised on significant legal and policy matters, including cross-border regulation, financial stability risks, major market events, and congressional inquiries.
She also previously served for over four years at the House of Representatives’ Office of General Counsel, where she advised committees on all aspects of congressional investigations and handled litigation arising from subpoena disputes. Kim also represented the House, its members and committees in numerous grand jury, trial, and appellate proceedings on a wide range of other issues arising from official duties, including criminal investigations and constitutional litigation.
Kim began her legal career in the litigation department of an international law firm in London and New York, where she practiced for over a decade and advised clients on securities, compliance, antitrust, insurance, regulatory, and internal investigation matters.
Judge, United States Court of Federal Claims
Judge Roumel was appointed to the United States Court of Federal Claims in 2020 and served as Chief Judge from 2020-2021. She serves as Chair of the court’s Advisory Council for Intellectual Property, is the Chair of the court’s Attorney Discipline Panel, serves on the court’s Pro Bono Policy Committee, and is the court’s Liaison Representative on the Administrative Conference of the United States. Judge Roumel previously served as the Deputy Counsel to Vice President Pence. Prior to her tenure at the White House, she served as Assistant General Counsel in the U.S. House of Representatives Office of General Counsel, where she advised and represented the U.S. House of Representatives, Members of Congress, and congressional staff in federal trial and appellate courts across the country.
Judge Roumel previously was a partner with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP, in Charleston, South Carolina, and before that practiced at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, LLP and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, LLP in New York City. She also was an adjunct professor at the Charleston School of Law, where she taught intellectual property law. Judge Roumel served as a law clerk to the Honorable William H. Pauley III, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York.
She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Tulane Law School, where she graduated Order of the Coif and was an editor of the Tulane Law Review. Judge Roumel also received her M.B.A. from Tulane University's A.B. Freeman School of Business. She earned her B.A., cum laude, from Wake Forest University.
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