Chicago attorney nominated as RRB chair

President Donald Trump nominated Erhard Chorle, a Chicago attorney, to serve a five-year term as chairman of the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) on July 27.

Chorle’s confirmation would fill a vacancy that was created in August 2015 by the retirement of Michael Schwartz after Schwartz’s 12 years as RRB chairman.

Chorle serves as a partner in the corporate and business counseling practice group of Pedersen & Houpt in Chicago, and a biography published on Pedersen & Houpt’s website says Chorle specializes in corporate securities, regulatory and government advice and counsel.

“It’s an honor to be nominated,” Chorle said when reached by email.

According to his biography, Chorle served the Illinois state government as senior assistant to the director of labor, deputy secretary of state and as the state’s securities commissioner. He served as executive assistant for financial and regulatory affairs in Gov. Jim Edgar’s administration beginning in 1991 and had experience overseeing the state’s major financial regulations department, including banks, trusts and insurance, as well as the state’s various financing authorities and pension funds.

Chorle also was chairman of the Illinois state Board of Investment, a $10 billion fund investing the assets of three Illinois state pension systems. He received his B.S. from DePaul University in 1978 and a juris doctorate from John Marshall Law School in 1984 and joined Pedersen & Houpt in July 2017.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Chorle’s term would run through Aug. 28, 2022.