Appointments and Resignations

Director of the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service: Who Is Stephen Volz?

In November 2007, Volz took over as NASA’s associate director for flight programs in its earth science division. He managed all of NASA’s earth science programs, including all the satellites devoted to that field. Volz became the Commerce Department’s assistant administrator in charge of the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) on November 2, 2014. read more

Director of the National Marine Fisheries Service: Who Is Eileen Sobeck?

Sobeck was made deputy assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division in 1999, a position she held for 10 years. Sobeck transferred to the Interior Department in 2009 as deputy assistant secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks and served for a time as acting assistant secretary. read more

Thailand’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Pisan Manawapat?

In 2011 Pisan was named ambassador to India, serving there for two years. He then took over the Thai embassy in Canada. Since taking over in Washington, Pisan has spent much of his time attempting to improve relations between his country and the United States in the wake of a May 2014 coup, after which the Thai government tightened restrictions of freedom of expression in their country. read more

Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration: Who Is Chuck Rosenberg?

Beginning in 2007, he served as chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Rosenberg left again for the private sector in 2008, defending white-collar criminals as a partner at Hogan Lovells. Rosenberg returned in 2013 to work for James Comey again, this time as chief of staff and counselor to the FBI director. Unlike his predecessor, as leader of the DEA, Rosenberg is expected to focus more on heroin and harder drugs and less on enforcement of marijuana laws. read more

Director of the Minority Business Development Agency: Who Is Alejandra Castillo?

Castillo joined the Commerce Department in 2008 as special advisor to Christopher Padilla, the under secretary for the U. S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration. In 2010, Castillo was named national deputy director of Minority Business Development Agency, and was moved up to the directorship in 2014. read more

Director of the Transportation Security Administration: Who Is Peter Neffenger?

Neffenger went on to serve as the Coast Guard’s director of strategic management and doctrine and by 2010 he was the Coast Guard’s deputy commandant for operations and deputy national incident commander and worked on much of that service’s response to the April 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. In May 2014, he was made vice commandant of the Coast Guard, that service’s No. 2-ranking officer, a post he held until his nomination as TSA director. read more

Director of the Bureau of Economic Analysis: Who Is Brian Moyer?

Some of Moyer’s research has been directed at improving statistics related to measures of volume and prices, productivity and uses of intermediate purchases by industry. Moyer became BEA’s acting director in May 2014 when the previous director, J. Steven Landefeld, stepped down. If Landefeld’s tenure is any predictor, Moyer might be at BEA for a while; Landefeld led the agency for 19 years. read more

Hungary’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Réka Szemerkényi?

In 2006, Szemerkényi was named chief advisor for international public relations to the CEO of MOL group, the Hungarian oil and gas company. That same year, she also became a senior associate in the Institute of Kremlinology at Gáspár Károli Reformed University. Orbán and Fidesz returned to office in 2010 and by 2011 Szemerkényi was the prime minister’s chief advisor on security policy. Szemerkényi’s views are said to be completely in line with those of Orbán. read more

Chair of the Federal Election Commission: Who Is Ann Ravel?

In May 2015, Ravel said it is unlikely that the FEC, which has three Democrats and three Republicans on its board, will be able to do much to regulate the coming presidential election. “The likelihood of the laws being enforced is slim,” she told The New York Times. “I never want to give up, but I’m not under any illusions. People think the FEC is dysfunctional. It’s worse than dysfunctional.” read more

Equatorial Guinea’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Miguel Ntutumu Evuna Andeme?

Evuna Andeme is not an ordinary citizen; his father, Alejandro Evuna Asangono Owono, is minister of state and his sister, Mari-Cruz Evuna Andeme, is ambassador to the United Kingdom, is the president of the country. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo’s government is known as one of the most repressive in the world. read more

Kyrgyzstan’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Kadyr Toktogulov?

Toktogulov began working for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones News Service in the region, and he covered the overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April 2010. In 2011, Toktogulov began serving as press secretary to Kyrgyzstan’s prime minister, Almazbek Atambayev. When Atambayev won election in October 2011, Toktogulov returned to being his press secretary. He held that job until late 2014, when he was appointed to the Washington position. read more

Algeria’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Madjid Bouguerra?

Madjid Bouguerra presented his credentials as Algeria’s ambassador to the United States to President Barack Obama on February 13, 2015. It’s the fifth ambassadorial posting for Bouguerra, a long-time member of his country’s foreign service. Bouguerra went to Berlin as Algeria’s ambassador to Germany in 2010. He came home in 2013 to serve as minister delegate for Maghreb and African Affairs, his last post before assuming his post in Washington. read more

Peru’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Luis Miguel Castilla?

Castilla joined Peru’s government as assistant finance minister under centrist President Alan Garcia in January 2010. When Ollanta Humala, a president with leftist leanings assumed office in July 2011, he surprised many by adding Castilla to his cabinet as minister of rconomics and finance. Humala thought that the presence of Castilla, an economic moderate, would calm the fears of Peru’s business community about the ascension of a leftist to the presidency. read more

Niger’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Hassana Alidou?

Alidou's focus is on promoting the early education of African students in their indigenous language, rather than the colonial language such as French or English as is the case now. As part of that work, Alidou consults on bi/multilingual and mother tongue education in Africa for the UNESCO Institute for Education. She was the regional director of UNESCO in Abuja, Nigeria. read more

South Sudan’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Garang Diing Akuong?

Since taking over as ambassador, Akuong has had to contend with the U.S.-initiated threat to impose sanctions, through the United Nations Security Council, against South Sudan unless President Kiir and Machar can come to terms to end a civil war which began in December 2013 and has killed ten thousand and displaced an estimated 1.5 million citizens. read more

Serbia’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Djerdj Matković?

Djerdj Matković assumed the position of Serbia’s ambassador to the United States on February 21, 2015, after the post had been vacant for 18 months. In August 2012, Matković began advising Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić on foreign policy issues and continued to do so when Vucic was elevated to prime minister in 2014. Matković was Vučić’s main advisor during the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine, keeping Serbia on a narrow path between Russia and the United States. read more