WASHINGTON (April 29, 2025) – Holland & Knight welcomes Michal Ilana Freedhoff, Ph.D., as a senior policy advisor in the Firm's Public Policy & Regulation Group in Washington, D.C. Most recently, Dr. Freedhoff was the assistant administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) from 2021 to 2025, leading an office of 1,100 employees that oversees the safety of chemicals and pesticides. She was nominated to the role by former President Joe Biden and confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate.
Before joining the EPA in January 2021, Dr. Freedhoff spent more than 20 years in Congress, most recently as the minority director of oversight for the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. In that position, Dr. Freedhoff helped negotiate bipartisan legislation to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), worked to address vehicle fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards (including participation in the negotiations on a compromise agreement between some automakers and the State of California), and helped with negotiations that led to the enactment of the 2020 American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act addressing hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). She began her congressional service as a science and engineering fellow in the office of then-Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and later became his policy director, also serving on his staff on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources, Committee on Energy and Commerce and Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.
Dr. Freedhoff's environmental experience spans a wide range of policy areas, and she is known for her ability to find win-win solutions that appeal to a wide range of bipartisan lawmakers, as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and industry stakeholders. Throughout the course of her career, she has provided critical leadership as a lead Senate Democratic negotiator on the 2016 re-authorization of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); the 2019 legislation to address PFAS contamination; the 2009 "Cash for Clunkers" program; the fuel economy provisions in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act; and a law requiring the creation of an online database of potential consumer product safety defects.
Dr. Freedhoff's perspective, background and experience builds on the Firm's existing chemical industry strength, which includes the principal Senate Republican negotiator of TSCA, as well as one of the industry's longest-serving lobbyists who was heavily involved in the reform process.
"Michal's extraordinary knowledge of legislation and regulation related to chemical and pesticide safety, vehicle emissions and other core environmental issues, combined with her impressive technical background, make her an invaluable asset to our quickly growing environmental team," said Rich Gold, leader of Holland & Knight's Public Policy & Regulation Group. "Michal has an impeccable reputation with environmental policy stakeholders across the ideological divide and is known as a creative problem solver. She is someone clients can rely on to advance their objectives with the EPA and legislators in a pragmatic and effective way."
"Michal served in one of the most senior roles at the U.S. EPA, and her years of senior roles in the U.S. House and Senate afford her the technical knowledge and political experience to navigate Washington," said Ryan Jackson, vice president of federal affairs at the American Chemistry Council. "She has gained professional respect from both sides of the political aisle, and she's well known for putting in tremendous time and energy on the issues on which she's focused."
"No one knows more about chemical safety regulation than Dr. Michal Freedhoff. And few people possess her insights into our byzantine chemical regulatory process," said Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group. "Holland & Knight is fortunate to have a chemical safety leader with unparalleled understanding of the political and policy landscape."
"I know from past work with Rich and his team on several key environmental reforms that Holland & Knight's industry-leading clients value durable and consensus-driven solutions, like so much of what I've worked on in my more than 25 years in government," Dr. Freedhoff said. "I'm excited to get started!"
Dr. Freedhoff earned a Ph.D. and an M.S. degree in physical chemistry from the University of Rochester and a B.Sc. degree from McGill University.