Christopher J. Madaio joined TICAS in February 2025 as a Senior Advisor where he will be reinforcing TICAS’ commitment to protect students and borrowers at the state level. Madaio will work closely with attorneys general, policymakers, and advocates to advance policies that hold institutions accountable and safeguard students’ educational investments.
Madaio is joining TICAS after almost 3 years serving in the U.S. Department of Education as the Director of the Investigations Group in the Enforcement Unit of Federal Student Aid. In that role, he led the team that investigated federally-funded institutions of higher education for violations, such as misrepresentations to students during the admissions process. His team’s work led to significant administrative actions, millions of dollars in fine payments made via settlement agreements, multiple enforcement bulletins sent to schools, and other unprecedented achievements designed to punish misconduct and prevent future violations.
Previously, Madaio was the Vice President for Legal Affairs at Veterans Education Success, where he led a team that assisted veterans and servicemembers, supported college whistleblowers and law enforcement agencies investigating institutions of higher education, and advocated for stronger consumer protection policies to prevent future harm.
Madaio also served for almost 6 years as an Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection Division of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office where he led efforts to enforce the Maryland Consumer Protection Act against predatory and abusive institutions of higher education, and coordinated investigations into institutions, in conjunction with other attorneys general offices, that resulted in millions of dollars of student loan debt cancellation for students and substantial injunctive conduct adopted by multiple institutions. He also advocated for federal student loan discharge for students who were victims of deceptive conduct at schools such as ITT Tech. In that role, Madaio drafted and provided testimony before Congress, Maryland legislative committees, and the U.S. Education Department’s National Advisory Council on Institutional Quality and Integrity, and served as a negotiator on a Department of Education rulemaking committee. He worked with Maryland legislators to pass first-in-the-nation state laws to close the 90/10 loophole to protect veterans, protect students facing school closures, and prohibit private inurement by directors, trustees, or other insiders of non-profit institutions of higher education.
Prior to his almost 6 years of service as an Assistant Attorney General, Madaio practiced law at a Baltimore-based law firm, Miles & Stockbridge P.C., for 5 years.
Christopher graduated from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, magna cum laude, in 2010 and the University of Maryland, College Park in 2007.
