Public Service
Halter entered the public sector, serving as an economist to the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee and as chief economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. Following the election of fellow Arkansan Bill Clinton as President of the United States, Halter joined the new administration as a senior adviser in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in 1993. He advised on a range of policy issues, reviewed and evaluated budgets and management practices of Federal cabinet departments, presented budget options to the President, and formulated Administration positions on domestic and international policy issues. He also coordinated the work of the President's Management Council, a group consisting of the Chief Operating Officers of the Federal Cabinet departments.
On October 1, 1999, Halter was nominated by President Clinton to serve as Deputy Commissioner of the Social Security Administration. He was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on November 10, 1999, becoming the first confirmed Deputy Commissioner of the SSA as an independent agency. As the agency's Chief Operating Officer, he was responsible for the delivery of more than $500 billion in benefits to over 48 million Americans and managed 65,000 employees in 1,500 offices.
During his tenure, he encouraged the use of computer technology in all aspects of SSA's operations. Of particular interest to Halter was the use of the Internet, both as an informational service and a service-delivery method. He pushed the Agency to accelerate its adoption of Internet service delivery and maintained constant pressure on the organization to find new and innovative ways to use the Internet in its business operations. From January 21 to March 28, 2001, Halter served as Acting Commissioner of the SSA during the first months of the administration of George W. Bush.
Halter then re-entered the private sector by joining the board of directors of several companies in biotechnology and information technology, including Akamai Technologies, webMethods, InterMune, Threshold Pharmaceuticals and Xenogen. He also was a trustee at his alma mater of Stanford University from 1996 to 2003.
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