Career
Mora was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in Cuba. His father, a medical doctor and professor, is Cuban, and his mother's parents are from Hungary, which they fled in advance of active Hungarian-German cooperation in 1941. Mora's family fled Cuba after the Cuban Revolution of 1959, when Mora was eight years old. Mora's family relocated to Jackson, Mississippi, where Mora lived until leaving for college.
He received a B.A., with honors, from Swarthmore College in 1974. From 1975 to 1978 he worked for the U.S. State Department as a foreign service officer at the U.S. embassy in Lisbon, Portugal. He left to enter law school at the University of Miami School of Law, where he received his J.D. in 1981. He worked in litigation at a number of firms, until returning to government work. From 1989 to 1993, he served in the administration of the President George H.W. Bush as general counsel to the United States Information Agency. He was later appointed three times by President Bill Clinton to the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the Voice of America and other U.S. information services. He also worked as an Of Counsel attorney with the prominent law firm of Greenberg Traurig, at their Washington office, focusing on matters of international law. In January of 1991 Mora made the final ruling of an investigation of a USIA employee where Mora stated at the end of the meeting to the individual, "I have reason to believe you are not worthy to serve our country." After six weeks of review the USIA Appeals board overturned Mora's judgement which was based on an investigation that included improper interrogations and improper use of expunged material. The individual was offered his job back at USIA after Mora was overturned for a staff investigation fraught with errors and injuring an individual due to his sexuality.
Mora speaks Spanish, French, and Portuguese. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Mora as the General Counsel of the Navy, the most senior civilian lawyer for the Navy, after a recommendation by former U.S. Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci, who is friends with Mora.
Mora was in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, when it was struck by the Boeing 757 of American Airlines Flight 77. Mora said that it "felt jarring, like a large safe had been dropped overhead."
Mora retired from the Federal Government in January 2006. He has since become the chief counsel for Wal-Mart's international division.
Read more about this topic: Alberto J. Mora
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