Douglas Holmes, former deputy director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, will be the next president of the Washington-based business advocacy group Strategic Services on Unemployment & Workers' Compensation, the association said.

Mr. Holmes, who also served as legal counsel and unemployment compensation director at the Ohio agency, replaces Eric Oxfeld at UWC.

The organization said Mr. Oxfeld will be stepping down at the end of November to become executive director of the International Workers' Compensation Foundation.

Mr. Holmes “is a nationally recognized expert within the business community and among federal and state officials,” said Matt Harvill, vice president, unemployment compensation for Kelly Services and UWC board chairman. “He is intimately familiar with, and has enjoyed many successes in, public policy making.”

UWC is a national association that focuses specifically on representing the business community on national unemployment and workers' compensation public policy.

“The unemployment and workers' compensation systems provide essential economic security for individuals and businesses across America,” Mr. Holmes said. “During my time as a public servant, I have seen first hand, and admired, the substantial contributions of the business community to ensuring that an effective safety net is in place to protect workers, our communities and state economies in case of unemployment, injury or illness on the job.”

Among the top priorities for UWC as he takes the reins, Mr. Holmes said, are the extension of the national terrorism insurance program, reforming workers' compensation Medicare set-aside procedures, and administrative financing reform of the unemployment program.

Mr. Holmes will officially take control after his nomination is ratified by the full UWC Board of Directors and National Foundation Board of Trustees at their November meeting. Mr. Oxfeld will provide transitional consulting services during 2007 with a special emphasis on workers' compensation, including Medicare set-aside reform.

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Holmes To Replace Oxfeld AT UWC

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