Robert Shireman

[5] After college, Shireman opened a lobbying office in Sacramento for the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG), a Ralph Nader-inspired organization in which he had been active as a student at UC Berkeley.

Senator Paul Simon, Shireman played a significant role in the development and implementation of Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign promise to “scrap” the student loan program and replace it with a national service trust fund that would allow all students to borrow money for college and then repay it either as a small percentage of income over time or through two years of public service.

[13] Shireman joined the Clinton Administration at the end of the first term and took on the role of shepherding a 1996 campaign promise to create a tax credit for college tuition.

In January 1998, with reporters hungry for new information about the scandal, White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry sought to demonstrate that the administration was working on real policy issues.

To preserve access and reduce taxpayer costs, the administration, with Shireman in a lead role, proposed shifting to a 100 percent direct loan system.

[26] Shireman is sometimes described as the “architect” of the Obama administration's consumer protection regulations, including clarifying the Higher Education Act's gainful employment provision that determines for-profit college access to federal funding.

[27][28] While Shireman did play a major role in launching that effort, all of the regulations were adopted by the Department of Education months or years after his return home to California in the summer of 2010.

[29] In May 2020, Shireman was appointed by California Governor Gavin Newsom to serve as one of the state's representatives to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.

[30] In October, 2020, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed him to a term on the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity.

When the RNC failed to award the prize, Shireman's attorney David Halperin filed a breach of contract case in Washington, DC.

One recommendation sought to reverse California Community College regulations the group said undermined campus leadership and led to costly stalemates.