Leslie Thornton — Director at Career Education Corporation

Ms. Leslie T. Thornton has been Senior Vice President, Secretary of WGL Holdings Inc and Washington Gas Light Company since October 1, 2014 and its General Counsel since January 1, 2012. Ms. Thornton has been a Partner of Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky, LLP since 2004. She served as Vice President of WGL Holdings Inc. and Washington Gas Light Co., from January 1, 2012 to October 1, 2014. Ms. Thornton started her career as a Trial Attorney in the nationally-known Washington D.C. Public Defender's Office. She served as Partner of Patton Boggs, LLP from 2000 to 2004. She worked with U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, first as Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor and then as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Education (DOE). She served eight years with Secretary Riley at DOE, she served as the liaison between the Secretary and the White House on policy, political, ethics, personnel and other matters, supervised the higher education administrative appeals process for the Secretary and helped the Secretary implement President education initiatives, among other things. Ms. Thornton served as the Deputy Advisor for presidential debates in the Clinton-Gore '96 campaign and also served as the Legal Counsel to the Clinton-Gore '92 Presidential Transition. She is an Attorney and has significant expertise in the areas of educational, federal government and regulatory affairs. She has more than 20-year career. She Founded the Educational Equity Institute and Capitol Education Fund, organizations dedicated to improving educational access and opportunity. She served as Counsel to the Chairman at WGL Holdings Inc. since November 28, 2011. She served as a Lead Independent Director of Career Education Corp. from October 31, 2011 to May 14, 2013 and has been its Director since December 2005. She serves as a Director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington. She has written many articles addressing the importance of educational access and opportunity and authored an amicus brief on behalf of 60 members of Congress in the University of Michigan affirmative action cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Ms. Thornton holds a Law Degree from Georgetown University in 1983 and Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1980.