ICIS can refer to:

• Integrated Cadastral Information Society, a non-profit organization
• International Conference on Information Systems, an annual academic conference in Information Systems
• Instrumentation, Control and Intelligent Systems, a distinctive signature organization in the Idaho National Laboratory
• Institute for Security and Cooperation in Space, a non-profit organization
• Internal Counter-Intelligence Service, a fictional organization in the Doctor Who universe

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Roland Berger (born November 22, 1937, in Berlin) is a German entrepreneur, consultant and philanthropist. He is the founder and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the international strategy consulting firm Roland Berger Strategy Consultants which he established in Munich, Germany, in 1967.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} He has been a close advisor of Gerhard Schröder, beginning when Schröder was the Minister-President of Lower Saxony and continuing through his tenure as Chancellor of Germany. Berger reportedly declined an offer to become Economics Minister in 1998 when Schröder became Chancellor because Berger was also advising the politically conservative Minister-President of Bavaria Edmund Stoiber.^[3]

Roland Berger is also the founder of the Roland Berger Foundation for Human Dignity.^[6]

Furthermore, Roland Berger is a founding partner of BLM Partners which he formed with Florian Lahnstein, Gero Wendenberg and Jason Carley. The controversial Thomas Middelhoff left that firm in November 2010.^[7] He is also Chairman Germany on the International Advisory Board of Blackstone Group and serves as a member of the Board of Directors of FIAT Group and INSEAD.^[8] He is also a member of the supervisory board of the pharmaceuticals and healthcare company Fresenius SE.^[9]

Bibliography[link]

• Berger, Roland; Dutta, Soumitra; Raffel, Tobias; Samuels, Geoffrey (2008). Innovating at the Top: How Global CEOs Drive Innovation for Growth and Profit. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-57573-8. http://us.macmillan.com/innovatingatthetop. 

References[link]

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Laura Richardson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 37th district
Incumbent
Assumed office August 21, 2007
Preceded by	Juanita Millender-McDonald
Member of the California State Assembly from the 55th district
In office 2006–2007
Preceded by	Jenny Oropeza
Succeeded by	Warren Furutani
Member of the Long Beach City Council
In office 2000–2006
Preceded by	Jenny Oropeza
Succeeded by	Dee Andrews
Personal details
Born	(1962-04-14) April 14, 1962 (age 50) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Divorced
Residence	Long Beach, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles USC Marshall School of Business
Occupation	Printing executive
Religion	Methodist

Laura Richardson (born April 14, 1962) is the U.S. Representative for California's 37th congressional district, serving since 2007. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district encompasses the inland section of Long Beach, Carson, Compton and Signal Hill, as well as parts of other municipalities.

She previously represented the 55th district in the California State Assembly for the 2007 term until she was elected to the House of Representatives for California's 37th congressional district in a special election on August 21 to fill the vacancy resulting from the death of Juanita Millender-McDonald.

Background[link]

Richardson was raised by a single mother after her parents divorced when she was two. Her father belonged to the Teamsters labor union.^[1] Her father was black and her mother was white. Richardson has said that racism against their mixed-race family was "what got me since the age of about six of wanting to be a public servant."^[2]

Richardson was previously married to Long Beach Police Chief Anthony Batts. During the marriage, she took the name Laura Richardson-Batts.

Richardson graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1984. In 1987, she joined Xerox Corporation where she worked for 14 years. In 1996, Richardson received her MBA from the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business. She often credits her studies in China at Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai as significantly expanding her educational experience.

Early political career[link]

Richardson served on the Long Beach City Council from 2000 to 2006. In 2004, Richardson won a second term outright on the first ballot. As a councilwoman, she made statements that her priorities included neighborhood improvement, public safety, attracting jobs and businesses to the cities’ central corridors, job training programs for adults, after-school programs for youth and expanding senior programs.

Richardson established the Sixth District Master Plan, a strategic guideline for development in the area. Other significant accomplishments during her council tenure include securing the first funding for alley maintenance by the city of Long Beach, initiating the planning process for a Senior Transportation Program in the Central Area of Long Beach.

While serving on the city council, Richardson joined the staff of Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante and served as his Southern California director for five years.

California Assembly[link]

Richardson served as the assistant speaker pro tempore in the Assembly. Richardson was the first African-American and South Bay representative to achieve this position. Additionally, Richardson was appointed to serve on the Budget, Human Services, Utilities & Commerce, Government Organization, and Joint Legislative Budget committees. She was chair of the Select Committee on Proposition 209-Equal Opportunity.

U.S. House of Representatives[link]

Committee assignments[link]

• Committee on Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies
  • Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications (Ranking Member)
• Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
  • Subcommittee on Highways and Transit
  • Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials
  • Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment

Caucuses[link]

• Congressional Black Caucus
• Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (Associate Member)

Political positions[link]

Iraq War

In 2003, Richardson said she believed weapons inspections in Iraq should have continued, and that she did not favor an invasion. She was asked by anti-war groups to support a Long Beach City Council resolution declaring the city's opposition to the Iraq War. She did not support this resolution, but cosponsored a resolution declaring support for local members of the National Guard. Once hostilities began, she stated that it was important to support the troops. She argued that once Saddam Hussein was caught and executed, American troops should have come home. She supports a withdrawal plan beginning in six months, according to her mailers, which often contain pictures of former president George W. Bush with a slash mark through his image, indicating her opposition to Bush's policies. She pledged to oppose any new spending for war in Iraq.

Same-sex marriage

She co-wrote AB 43, the bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in California. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed AB 43 in 2007.

Prisons

Richardson supported AB 900 to create 40,000 more prison beds in California at the cost of $7.4 billion dollars.

Environment

Richardson has faced some harsh scrutiny for not co-sponsoring Rep. Henry Waxman's global warming legislation. As a result, Greenpeace has mounted a public awareness campaign about her position.^[3]

Immigration

Richardson does not support building a border fence. She does support some path to citizenship for certain illegal immigrants.

Laura Richardson (center) with fellow congresswomen Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio (left) and Yvette Clarke of New York (right).

2008 presidential race

Laura Richardson endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, although her district voted for 54.2% to 43.5% in favor of Barack Obama.^[4]

FISA Amendments Act

Richardson voted in favor of a controversial update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on June 20, 2008. As part of the bill, telecommunications companies that have allegedly acted illegally in allowing the Bush Administration to spy on customers will be protected from prosecution. The administration's surveillance of U.S. citizens and residents is part of the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy.

Political campaigns[link]

Richardson defeated State Senator Jenny Oropeza and 9 other Democrats in the June 26 primary election to win her party's nomination. On August 21, Richardson won more than 65% of the vote in a four-way race against the nominees of the Republican Party, Green Party, and Libertarian Party.

Controversies[link]

Richardson was accused of receiving preferential treatment by a bank when it rescinded an erroneous foreclosure of her house, but was cleared of wrongdoing by the House Ethics Committee,^[5] in accordance with the recommendations of the Office of Congressional Ethics .^[6] Upon the death of Juanita Millender-McDonald, her predecessor in the 37th Congressional District, Richardson seems to have put all of her funds into winning the resulting special election, and as a result stopped paying her mortgages. Following the special election, she made agreements with Washington Mutual to catch up payments on her 3 properties, but the bank violated this agreement with regard to the Sacramento property when it foreclosed on the house. The bank then rescinded the foreclosure, causing the controversy.

After her election to the California Assembly, Richardson purchased a home in Sacramento with no money down^[7] and a subprime mortgage. According to county records, Richardson received a default notice and Notice of Trustee's Sale in late 2007. In December 2007, Richardson was behind in payments by more than $18,000.^[8] According to the couple that sold the home to Richardson, Richardson was not maintaining the home. Sharon Helmar has stated: "The neighbors are extremely unhappy with her. She didn't mow the lawn or take out the garbage while she was there. We lived there for a long time, 30 years, and we had to hide our heads whenever we came back to the neighborhood."^[9]

The real estate broker who bought Richardson's Sacramento house at the foreclosure sale accused her of receiving preferential treatment because her lender had issued a notice to rescind the sale. James York, owner of Red Rock Mortgage, said he would file a lawsuit against Richardson and her lender, Washington Mutual, but settled out of court with the terms not disclosed. Richardson had not been making payments on the property for nearly a year, and had also gone into default on her two other houses in Long Beach and San Pedro. Richardson, D-Long Beach, has said that the auction should never have been held, because she had worked out a loan modification agreement with her lender beforehand and had begun making payments.^[10]

The House Ethics Committee, following the recommendations of the Ethics Office, found no wrongdoing other than by Richardson's Mortgage Broker, who was referred to the Justice Department for mortgage fraud, which was widespread at the time the mortgage was made. Mistaken foreclosures despite paid-up recovery agreements, such as the one that happened to Richardson, were also becoming rampant during this period.^[11][12][13]

Richardson also initially did not disclose a loan from a strip club owner when on the City Council, public records show.^[14]

Rep. Richardson was presiding speaker of the house during the November 29, 2010 lame-duck session of Congress. She can be seen initially refusing to recognize, then relenting to allow committee ranking member Steve Buyer to talk despite the failure of the Committee chairman to appear. She is seen discussing with the House parliamentarian and aides how to handle the failure of the committee chairman to appear to present his bill under rules and procedures that minorities in both parties have often denounced when out of power in the House, as Boyer does when recognized in this instance.^[15]

On November 3rd 2011, the Los Angeles Times released an article claiming that Laura Richardson will face an ethics inquiry related to possible illegal use of staffers.

On November 4th 2011, Richardson claimed that the House Ethics Committee, composed of five members from the Democratic Party and five members from Republician Party, singled her out for investigation because she is African-American. The Ethics Committee leaders did announce that the vote to establish a four-member investigative subcommittee was unanimous.^[16]

Redistricting for the 2012 elections put fellow Democrat Janice Hahn, incumbent in California's 36th district, into the 44th district together with Richardson. The California Democratic Party endorsed Hahn.^[17]

References[link]

External links[link]

• U.S. Congresswoman Laura Richardson official U.S. house site
• Re-Elect Laura Richardson for Congress official campaign site
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at the National Institute for Money in State Politics
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Profile at SourceWatch
• Laura Richardson Political History^{[dead link]}
• Biography Video of her time spent in Long Beach
• California Assembly bio^{[dead link]}