BALTIMORE, MD. (May 30, 2013) — Today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced the appointment of Mr. Robert H. Pearre, Jr., a former FBI agent and former congressional investigator, to lead Baltimore’s Office of the Inspector General, which has been significantly strengthened under Mayor Rawlings-Blake’s administration. “Increasing ethics and transparency has been a hallmark of this administration,” Mayor Rawlings-Blake said. “I have every confidence that Mr. Pearre will use his talents to build upon the progress we have made building up the Inspector General’s Office and rooting out potential fraud, waste, and abuse.” Mr. Pearre, a forensic accountant, will begin June 17, 2013. He will replace former Inspector General David N. McClintock. Mr. Pearre was selected through a professional search process led by Baltimore City Solicitor George Nilson. As an FBI case agent from 1977–1986, Mr. Pearre headed numerous complex public corruption and fraud investigations. “I am truly honored to have the opportunity to serve the citizens of Baltimore as inspector general,” Mr. Pearre said. “I look forward to building on Mayor Rawlings-Blake's actions strengthening the office and delivering tangible results that will increase integrity in city government.” From 2003–2007, Mr. Pearre served as chief investigator for U.S. House Committee on Appropriations, where he managed the operations of a staff of approximately 80 senior investigators and support personnel with an $8 million annual budget. In 2005, as chief investigator to the committee, he established and managed a Hurricane Katrina task force with 45 personnel across five states investigating fraud, waste, and abuse. Prior to becoming the chief investigator to the Committee on Appropriations, he served as its deputy director and assistant director for investigations from 1986–2003, leading investigations for all federal civilian agencies. Mr. Pearre began his professional career in 1976 in Baltimore as a staff accountant with Wooden & Benson, CPAs. He graduated from Towson University in 1976 with a bachelor of science degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting. He is a member of  the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI. Since taking office in 2010, Mayor Rawlings-Blake has taken steps to increase transparency in city government, including signing an executive order launching Open Baltimore to provide an unprecedented amount of government data online, reconstituting the City ethics board and making it more independent, closing loopholes in the City’s ethics law to make government more accountable to the citizens, and introducing legislation and issuing executive orders to strengthen the Office of the Inspector General.