Appointments and Resignations

Administrator of Rural Development Housing and Community Facilities Programs: Who Is Tony Hernandez?

In July 1998, Hernandez took over as director of the Colorado Community Business Center for Fannie Mae, facilitating housing and community development. He remained in that post for more than nine years. Hernandez was chosen to be director of Colorado’s Division of Local Government in 2007, a position he held for more than five and a half years. He managed development programs for rural communities in the state, serving until taking over at the Rural Housing Service. read more

Papua New Guinea’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Rupa Mulina?

Mulina worked his way quickly through the ranks of the Papua New Guinea government. Mulina was named to head the government-owned Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation in 1997. In 2003 he became the chairman of the Rural Development Bank. He took over as the ambassador from Papua New Guinea to the United States in March 2014, about a year and a half after his appointment was announced. Mulina is also accredited to Canada and Mexico. read more

U.S. Ambassador to the Kyrgyzstan: Who Is Sheila Gwaltney?

She was sent back to St. Petersburg in 2008, this time as consul general. In 2010, Gwaltney was assigned to Moscow as deputy chief of mission. She eventually served as chargé d'affaires, ad interim. As such, she was in charge of the embassy after Ambassador Mike McFaul left, and she handled much of the U.S. response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine, events she had warned of earlier. read more

U.S. Ambassador to Latvia: Who Is Nancy Pettit?

In 1992, Pettit got to put her knowledge of the Soviet Union to first-hand use when she was named a political officer in the embassy in Moscow. Her husband was also there, as were their two children, when a constitutional crisis swept the country. The Pettits and other embassy personnel and their families were forced to remain in an underground shelter for two days during the unrest. read more

Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Who Is Michelle K. Lee?

In 2003, Lee went to work for Google as its deputy general counsel and head of patents and patent strategy. She advised the search engine giant on its acquisition of YouTube, participation in the Nortel patent auction and on mobile phone patent issues. Lee left for government service in 2012 to head the newly opened Silicon Valley outpost of the USPTO. read more

Director of the National Institute of Justice: Who Is Nancy Rodriguez?

Since 1998, Rodriguez has been at Arizona State University (ASU). She first was an assistant professor in ASU’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and in 2004 was made associate professor in that school. In 2012, she was named ASU’s associate dean for student engagement in the College of Public Programs. Rodriguez recently completed a study of prosecution and sentencing practices of imprisoned drug offenders before and after Arizona’s mandatory drug treatment law was enacted. read more

Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs: Who Is Jennifer Haverkamp?

She left federal service in 2003 to become a consultant for International Trade and Sustainability Services. She did some work for the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and later came on board as a full-time employee of the organization as managing director for international policy. In 2011, Haverkamp was made director of EDF’s International Climate Program, remaining in that role until 2014, when she left to do consulting work and lecture in the law at George Washington University. read more

Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs: Who Is Michele Bond?

On September 8, 2014, President Barack Obama nominated Michele Thoren Bond, a career Foreign Service officer, to head the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs. Bond has been leading that office since April 2014 on an acting basis. In 2010, Bond was named ambassador to Lesotho. She returned to the United States in December 2012 to take up the post of principal deputy assistant secretary of state for consular services, where she served until being named acting director. read more

Acting Administrator of the Rural Utilities Service: Who Is Jasper Schneider?

Schneider grew up around politics. His father, John, was a North Dakota state legislator and speaker of the house who was subsequently appointed to be the state’s U.S. attorney by President Bill Clinton. Schneider left the North Dakota legislature in November 2009 to become state director of USDA Rural Development in North Dakota, a post he held for five years. read more

Acting Under Secretary for Rural Development: Who Is Doug O’Brien?

O’Brien left Iowa in 2006 to become the assistant director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture. He left to work on the Obama for President campaign in 2008 as rural vote director for Obama for Ohio. After the election, O’Brien was brought into the Obama administration, first as chief of staff for Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan, then as senior advisor to a fellow Iowan, Secretary Tom Vilsack. In 2011, O’Brien was named deputy under secretary for rural development. read more

Attorney General of the United States: Who Is Loretta Lynch?

In 2010, Lynch was again appointed to serve as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. She led the prosecution for embezzlement of former New York state senate majority leader Pedro Espada Jr. Her office filed charges in 2013 on a $45 million cyberattack on ATMs, made arrests this year in the 1978 Lufthansa heist at Kennedy Airport, dramatized in the movie Goodfellas, and is now prosecuting Rep. Michael Grimm (R-New York) for tax fraud. read more

Chief of the National Resources Conservation Service: Who Is Jason Weller?

Weller was named acting chief in November 2012 after Dave White stepped down. At NRCS, Weller has had a hand in overseeing the BP Oil Spill cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico, helping Western farmers and ranchers prepare for drought and even in organizing a tractor trade-in in California’s San Joaquin Valley, in which farmers could swap an old heavily polluting model for a somewhat newer, cleaner one. read more

Administrator of the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration: Who Is Larry Mitchell?

In 2007, he co-founded KSC&W, a lobbying firm and in 2009 he deregistered as a lobbyist and became president of K Street Research, an organization that does research for companies interested in government work but avoids some restrictions placed on lobbyists. In 2011, Mitchell returned to government as associate director of the USDA’s Office of Advocacy and Outreach, a job he held until taking over his current post. read more

Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: Who Is Sarah Saldaña?

Saldaña helped handle a corruption scandal involving Dallas city officials charged with bribery and extortion in connection with affordable housing contracts. She saw Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill sent away for 18 years. When President Barack Obama took office in 2009, he had a chance to appoint the U.S. attorney in Dallas. Saldaña, a Democrat, had the backing of Republican Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchinson, but not of the Texas Democratic congressional delegation. read more

Administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service: Who Is Phil Karsting?

Karsting considered a new career in the restaurant business, but returned to Capitol Hill in 2004 to work in the office of Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl (D). He began as a legislative assistant, moved up to appropriations coordinator in 2005 and in 2006 was made Kohl’s deputy chief of staff. In 2009, Karsting was made chief of staff for the senator, a job he held until Kohl retired in 2013. read more

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico: Who Is Maria Echaveste?

Beginning when she was eight years old, with her parents and her siblings, she harvested cotton, grapes, figs, peaches, tomatoes, strawberries and carrots. In 1992, Echaveste was named a national Latino coordinator for Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign. After the election, she was deputy to Warren Christopher, the head of Clinton’s transition team and then in June she was named administrator of the Wage and Hour Division in the Department of Labor. read more