Eric Taubel came to OCM with experience in legal work at two other state agencies and in private practice. Before joining the OCM team, he was General Counsel for the Minnesota Department of Education, where he was responsible for building the agency’s Office of General Counsel from the ground up, and previously was an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel at the Minnesota Department of Commerce. Taubel worked in private practice in Minneapolis before joining the Department of Commerce.
Katie Knutson joined OCM from the Department of Public Safety where she also served as Chief of Staff. During her career, Knutson has served in a variety of legislative roles at the Departments of Public Safety, Administration, and Human Services. She was also the Government Relations Manager for the City of Saint Paul under Mayor Christopher B. Coleman.
Max Zappia joined OCM from the Minnesota Department of Commerce, where he was Deputy Commissioner of Financial Institutions and oversaw the teams that worked on regulation of state-chartered banks, state-chartered credit unions, and non-depository (non-bank) financial institutions licensed in Minnesota, encompassing finance companies, mortgage-related businesses, and money transmitters. While at Commerce, Zappia worked on issues related to cannabis banking, including developing regulatory guidance for Minnesota financial institutions for hemp banking and interstate efforts to clarify federal cannabis banking regulations.
