Biography
Angelo I. Amador is Executive Director of the Restaurant Law Center, an incorporated public policy law firm affiliated with the Association that represents the industry before the courts and federal regulatory agencies. He is also the Senior Vice President & Regulatory Counsel for the National Restaurant Association. The industry is the nation’s second-largest private-sector employer comprised of over one million restaurant and foodservice outlets employing about ten percent of the U.S. workforce.
Mr. Amador serves as the chief litigation officer for the Association prioritizing legal matters to be pursued through amicus briefs or first party litigation. He also represents the Association’s interests by advocating before regulatory agencies; testifying at public hearings; drafting and filing regulatory comments; and, when necessary, recommending and managing legal challenges.
Mr. Amador is a graduate of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and obtained a Master of Arts in International Transactions from George Mason University. He graduated cum laude from his Juris Doctor at George Mason University School of Law and with distinction from his Master of Laws in International and Comparative Law from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he received the Thomas Bradbury Chetwood Award for graduating with the highest academic ranking in his program.
Prior to his promotion to Senior Vice President & Regulatory Counsel, he was Vice President of Labor & Workforce Policy, responsible for working with members of the business community to develop the restaurant industry’s position on labor, health care, immigration, education and other issues affecting the benefits, availability and quality of the workforce. He advocated on behalf of the Association and its members before the U.S. Congress and the executive branch.
Before joining the National Restaurant Association, Mr. Amador served as an Executive Director in the Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits Division of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. At the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, he had responsibility for workforce issues, global migration, and travel/border policy. Previously, he was in private practice and served as Law Clerk to the Honorable David T. Stitt, Judge in the 19th Judicial Circuit of Virginia. Prior to his clerkship, he worked in Washington, D.C. for the Governor of Puerto Rico as Assistant Director/Legislative Counsel and as staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Mr. Amador has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at the George Mason University School of Law, and also served on the faculty of the Virginia Beach Law Enforcement Training Academy. He is fluent in German, Spanish, English and Portuguese and is a member of both the Virginia State Bar and the District of Columbia Bar.