Tom Margenau's Biography

Tom Margenau has worked in a variety of positions for the Social Security Administration since 1973. In addition to writing the Social Security column for Copley News Service, he has served as the director of public affairs for SSA in San Diego since April 1997. Prior to that, Margenau was SSA's deputy press officer at the agency's headquarters in Baltimore. In that capacity, he was a chief spokesman for the Social Security Administration and routinely worked with reporters representing major news media outlets.

During his career at Social Security's headquarters, Margenau also was the director of the agency's public information office. In that position, he served as the editor in chief for more than 100 informational publications produced by the agency. He also worked for four years as a speechwriter for the Commissioner of Social Security.

Before he moved to Social Security's headquarters, he worked for 12 years in Social Security field offices around the country, where he processed Social Security and SSI claims while writing Social Security columns for local newspapers. Margenau graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1971. He is married and has two grown children and two grandchildren.