Kathy Tighe

BA, 1976, Political Science

Deputy Inspector General, United States Department of Agriculture

Ms. Tighe (pronounced "Tie") became Deputy Inspector General in the USDA's Office of Inspector General in spring 2006.  Before joining the USDA, Tighe served as Counsel to the Inspector General at the U.S. General Services Administration since 1995. She was an Assistant Counsel for the OIG at the GSA from 1991-95.

From 1988-91, Ms. Tighe worked as a trial attorney with the Fraud Section of the Commercial Litigation Branch at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she litigated civil cases under the False Claims Act that involved the Department of Defense, USDA, and other federal departments and agencies. From 1983-88 she was an attorney in private practice, with the law firm of Lewis, Mitchell and Moore in Vienna, VA, where she concentrated on government contracts.

Ms. Tighe served as the Chair of the Federal Council of Counsels to the Inspector General from 2002-2004. She earned an MA degree from The American University and a JD from George Washington University. Her late father Edward (BS Industrial Econ 1953) and her mother Susanne (BA CLA 1954) are also Purdue Alums.