Judge Alan Caramella was appointed judicial officer by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in April 2021, a role he acted in since June 2019. Caramella serves as chairman of the Postal Service Board of Contract Appeals under the Contract Disputes Act and as vice president of the Judicial Officer department.

The Judicial Officer department is the neutral court system within the Postal Service whose judges are independent decision makers. The neutral court system is comprised of the judicial officer, the Office of Administrative Law Judges and the Postal Service Board of Contract Appeals. As judicial officer, Caramella exercises the delegated authority of the Postmaster General to issue final agency decisions on a wide range of statutory and regulatory matters involving the Postal Service.

Caramella joined the Postal Service’s Judicial Officer department as an administrative judge in 2013. His previous experience includes serving as a law clerk at the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals and as a trial attorney for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Litigation Office, where he served from 1992 to 2008. He also worked for the Air Force Commercial Law and Litigation Directorate where he served as a trial attorney, deputy chief trial attorney and finally, as the Air Force chief trial attorney.

Caramella received a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Brigham Young University in Utah, and a Juris Doctorate from the Case Western Reserve University Law School in Ohio.

Latest update: January 2023