Senior Staff

Members of the Senior Management Team

Peggy Ellen, Deputy Special Inspector General

Peggy Ellen is Deputy Special Inspector General at SIGTARP. Ms. Ellen has more than 25 years of experience as a prosecuting attorney and joined SIGTARP from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). At the SEC, she held positions in several sections including as an attorney in the Division of Enforcement, Special Counsel to the Director for Collections and Distributions, and as a senior attorney advisor in the Office of the Executive Director. Prior to her eight years at the SEC, Ms. Ellen was Chief of the Economic Crimes Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and was earlier Deputy Chief of the Grand Jury Section of the Superior Court Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She began her career as an attorney with the Federal Energy Administration.

Ms. Ellen graduated cum laude from Barnard College, holds a J.D. with honors from the George Washington University Law Center, and is a member of the D.C. Bar.

Brian Sano, Senior Policy Advisor

Brian Sano is Senior Policy Advisor to the Special Inspector General at SIGTARP. Mr. Sano joined SIGTARP from the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP where he worked within the firm’s Securities Litigation and Enforcement, Financial Institutions, and Investigations and Criminal Litigation groups. Prior to WilmerHale, Mr. Sano was Senior Counsel within the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement and investigated cases central to the financial crisis and various violations of the U.S. securities laws including accounting fraud and insider trading. During that time, he also served as a special assistant U.S. attorney within the Business and Securities Fraud Unit of the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Earlier in his career, he served within the Litigation Bureau of the New York State Office of Attorney General.

Mr. Sano is a graduate of Hamilton College, holds a J.D. from the American University Washington College of Law, and is licensed to practice law in New York and Washington, D.C.

Cathy Alix, Deputy SIG - Operations

Cathy D. Alix is SIGTARP's Deputy Special Inspector General for Operations. Prior to joining SIGTARP, Ms. Alix served as a senior advisor to the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Assistant Secretary for Management. Ms. Alix brings more than 30 years of management experience to SIGTARP. Her public service experience has included both federal and state-level positions, including two years of service at the White House as Special Assistant to the President for management and administration. Her private sector experience has concentrated in communications and included positions at Icon Solutions Inc., Fleishman-Hillard, Shandwick Public Affairs, and several broadcasting companies.

Ms. Alix attended Braxton Business College in Richmond, Virginia.

Scott Rebein, Deputy SIG - Investigations

Scott F. Rebein is Deputy Special Inspector General and head of the Investigations division at SIGTARP. Mr. Rebein has more than 25 years of experience as a federal special agent and joined SIGTARP from the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), where he was Director of Special Investigative Techniques. In that role, he oversaw all covert operations conducted by IRS-CI nationwide.

Mr. Rebein began his federal law enforcement career in 1987 as a special agent with IRS-CI and spent time in both the Richmond, Virginia, and Los Angeles field offices. He later served as a supervisory special agent in the IRS-CI Louisville Field Office and as an analyst at IRS-CI headquarters in Washington, D.C. He rose to senior leadership with IRS-CI in 2001 as Assistant Special Agent in Charge in the Miami Field Office and then as Special Agent in Charge in the Indianapolis Field Office.

Mr. Rebein earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

Mia Levine, Deputy SIG - Reporting

Mia Levine is SIGTARP’s Deputy Special Inspector General for Reporting and previously served as Chief of Staff from 2011 to 2012. Ms. Levine joined SIGTARP from the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division where she served for 14 years with the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section. She worked first as a line prosecutor and was most recently an assistant chief of the section’s litigation unit. Ms. Levine prosecuted several noteworthy cases, including prosecutions of financial institutions and individuals who violated money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act statutes. In 2009, Ms. Levine led the prosecution of Lloyds TSB Bank for violations of U.S. sanctions laws, resulting in a deferred prosecution agreement with the bank and a forfeiture of $350 million. Ms. Levine also supervised several other notable prosecutions of financial institutions, including Barclays Bank, Credit Suisse AG, and the former ABN AMRO Bank for violations of U.S. sanctions laws and Union Bank of California and American Express Bank International for violations of Bank Secrecy Act statutes. Prior to the Department of Justice, Ms. Levine worked for three years in private practice at the law firm of Zuckerman, Spaeder, Goldstein, Taylor & Better in Baltimore.

Ms. Levine received a Bachelor of Arts from the Johns Hopkins University and holds a J.D. from Tulane University Law School.

Roderick Fillinger, General Counsel and Deputy SIG - Legal and External Affairs

Roderick H. Fillinger is General Counsel and Deputy Special Inspector General for Legal and External Affairs at SIGTARP. Prior to SIGTARP, Mr. Fillinger served as Chief Counsel to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). Before joining TIGTA in 2000, Mr. Fillinger worked for the Internal Revenue Service’s Office of Chief Counsel in Atlanta and in Cincinnati, providing legal support to the IRS related to federal employment law, government contracting, ethics, criminal tax, and other matters. He also litigated on behalf of the IRS in the United States Tax Court and served as a special assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Ohio.

Mr. Fillinger holds a J.D. from Northern Kentucky University and a B.A. from the University of Cincinnati.

Joseph Cwiklinski, Director of Legislative Affairs

Joseph Cwiklinski is Director of Legislative Affairs for SIGTARP. Prior to SIGTARP, Mr. Cwiklinski was a policy advisor for the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP), a bipartisan committee created by Congress to review the current state of the financial markets and regulatory system as well as the government’s response to the financial crisis. Before COP, he was Deputy Legislative Director for Senator Chuck Hagel and a subcommittee staff director for the senator. Mr. Cwiklinski began his career as a professional staff member for the U.S. Joint Economic Committee and later served as an economist for the Senate Banking Committee and a legislative assistant for Senator Lamar Alexander.

Mr. Cwiklinski holds an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Illinois.

Troy D. Gravitt, Director of Communications

Troy D. Gravitt is Director of Communications for SIGTARP. A veteran of the Washington public affairs community, Mr. Gravitt has held various roles within the federal government, on Capitol Hill, and in private industry. He was most recently Director of Media Relations and corporate spokesman for FBR Capital Markets, an Arlington, Virginia-based investment bank and brokerage. He has advised various federal agencies and multinationals on communications strategy and crisis communications.

Mr. Gravitt earned undergraduate degrees in political science and sociology from Virginia Tech and a graduate degree in public administration, also from Virginia Tech. He holds a master’s in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University.

Members of the Senior Staff

Michael J. Rivera, Chief Investigative Counsel

Michael J. Rivera joined SIGTARP in August 2010 and is Chief Investigative Counsel in SIGTARP's Investigations division. As Chief Investigative Counsel, Mr. Rivera leads a team of highly experienced white-collar lawyers engaged in conducting criminal and civil investigations into complex banking, securities, mortgage, and other frauds involving the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Mr. Rivera and his team work closely with SIGTARP’s law enforcement agents and numerous other federal, state, and local agencies to assist prosecutors and regulators in investigating and prosecuting crimes involving TARP. Mr. Rivera joined SIGTARP after practicing law with the firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP for more than 17 years. Mr. Rivera was a member of the Securities Enforcement and Regulation practice group at Fried Frank and has extensive experience handling regulatory, compliance, and enforcement matters for companies and individuals involving the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and various stock exchanges. From 1991 to 1993, Mr. Rivera worked as a staff attorney in the Enforcement Division of the SEC in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Rivera received a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and graduated magna cum laude from St. John's University. He is admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia and in New York.

Bruce Gimbel, Assistant Deputy SIG - Audit (Acting)

Deborah Mathis, Associate Deputy SIG - Chief Financial Officer

Deborah A. Mathis is Associate Deputy Special Inspector General and SIGTARP’s Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining SIGTARP, Ms. Mathis worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta and served for five years as the Financial Effectiveness Officer for the Coordinating Center for Infectious Disease. Over the course of her 20-year career at the CDC, she also served as Budget Officer and Associate Director for Management and Operations. She was also a nine-year member of the CDC Federal Credit Union’s board of directors.

Ms. Mathis holds an undergraduate degree in public health from James Madison University and a graduate degree in human resource management from Pepperdine University.

Lynn Perkoski, Associate Deputy SIG - Special Programs, Operations

Lynn Perkoski is Associate Deputy Special Inspector General for Special Programs within SIGTARP’s Operations division. Ms. Perkoski has 35 years of federal experience with enterprise-wide knowledge, cross-functional disciplines, and collaborative experience in information technology, employee relations, EEO, customer service, marketing, strategic planning, Section 508 compliance, policy, and employee training. Ms. Perkoski joined SIGTARP from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) where she served as a policy advisor and senior technical advisor to the CIO, deputy CIO, associate CIOs, and other senior department officials, ensuring regulatory compliance with all applicable statutory and federal requirements. Prior to DOT, she was a manager with the U.S. Postal Service.

Ms. Perkoski double-majored in sociology and political science at George Washington University, where she graduated with high honors. She holds a master’s degree with high honors in information sciences from Johns Hopkins University.

Sally Ruble, Associate Deputy SIG - Human Resources

Sally Ruble is SIGTARP's Associate Deputy Special Inspector General for Human Resources. She joined SIGTARP from the U.S. Department of Transportation where she worked in the Human Resources Office for the Office of the Secretary for 20 years. Prior to the Department of Transportation, Ms. Ruble worked in human resources for the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Justice for 18 years.

Ms. Ruble holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Sangeeta Saraf, Associate Deputy SIG - Chief Information Officer

Sangeeta Saraf is Associate Deputy Special Inspector General and SIGTARP's Chief Information Officer. Ms. Saraf oversees all of the agency's mission critical information technology needs. She joined SIGTARP in 2009 and has more than 20 years of IT experience. Prior to joining SIGTARP, Ms. Saraf served as an IT consultant for clients throughout the federal government and was a manager for mission critical support systems at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Prior to her federal service, Ms. Saraf cultivated an independent IT consulting business serving both federal and industry clients and was a subject matter expert for capital expenditure planning and tracking systems.

Ms. Saraf holds a bachelor's degree in architecture from Jadavpur University, India; a Master of Science from the University of Virginia; and completed all coursework toward a Ph.D. in environmental science and public policy at George Mason University. She also holds an associate’s degree in information technology from Strayer University.

Maryann Haggerty, Managing Editor

Maryann Haggerty is SIGTARP's Managing Editor and is in charge of developing SIGTARP’s Quarterly Report to Congress. She is a former financial journalist who spent most of her career with The Washington Post, including nearly a decade as the newspaper's Real Estate Editor. Prior to joining SIGTARP, she was Managing Director for the federal Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which investigated the causes of the 2008 financial crisis.

Ms. Haggerty earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.