Appointments and Resignations
Office of Disability Employment Policy: Who is Kathleen Martinez?
Kathleen Martinez’s nomination as the Department of Labor’s Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy came the day after President Barack Obama joked with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show about how his poor bowling score compared with those... read more
Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education: Who Is Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana?
The new chief federal official for K-12 education empathizes easily with students who face difficulties in school. Born in 1958 to Mexican immigrants, Dr. Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana arrived at kindergarten unable to speak or read English, and fo... read more
Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs: Who Is Arturo Valenzuela
To repair relations with this country’s Latin American neighbors, President Obama has turned to a leading academic who was born and raised in South America and has studied the region his entire adult life. Arturo Valenzuela is a specialist on Chil... read more
Administrator of Food and Nutrition Service: Who is Julie Paradis?
Called out of retirement to head the Food and Nutrition Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Julie Paradis is a longtime lawyer specializing in agricultural issues who divided her 30-year career between Congress and the USDA.
... read more
Ambassador to Romania: Who is Mark Gitenstein?
Were it not for President Barack Obama’s “no lobbyists” policy, Mark Gitenstein might well have taken over the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy. But Gitenstein’s prior lobbying work on behalf of business clients, including the U.S.... read more
Ambassador to Austria: Who is William Eacho?
William C. Eacho, III is another important fundraiser for President Barack Obama who has been rewarded with an ambassadorship, this one to Austria. Eacho has spent much of his corporate career working in the food service distribution industry, whi... read more
Ambassador to Tanzania: Who is Alfonso Lenhardt?
What Alfonso Lenhardt lacks in diplomatic experience, he makes up for in knowledge of military affairs and security, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing to have as the next ambassador to Tanzania. In 1998 the American embassy in Dar es Salaam was ... read more
Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance and Implementation: Who Is Rose Gottemoeller?
Rose Gottemoeller was sworn in as the Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance, and Implementation on April 6, 2009. A longtime expert in nuclear weapons proliferation and arms control, Gottemoeller will be personally responsible ... read more
Director of the Institute of Education Sciences: Who is John Easton?
John Q. Easton has Education Secretary Arne Duncan to thank for his new job in Washington as head of the Institute of Education Sciences. A longtime specialist in education research from Chicago, Easton has known Duncan for nearly 20 years as a re... read more
Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service: Who Is Dave White?
Environmental conservation efforts regarding privately owned land will be under the stewardship of a committed conservationist with more than thirty years of service in the field. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack named career conservationist D... read more
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq: Who is Christopher Hill?
Christopher R. Hill, President Barack Obama’s choice for ambassador to Iraq, is a career diplomat who was Washington’s top nuclear negotiator with North Korea. He speaks three languages—Polish, Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian—but not Arabic, which i... read more
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs: Who Is Kurt Campbell?
United States policy toward the troubled and perilous region of East Asia–home of volatile conflicts between North and South Korea, China and Taiwan, and the military junta of Burma and its own people–is now the province of a highly esteemed acade... read more
Ambassador to Belize: Who is Vinai Thummalapally?
By appointing his college roommate, Vinai K. Thummalapally, to the cushy post of ambassador to Belize, President Barack Obama followed in the tradition of George W. Bush who also chose a college roommate as ambassador to Belize. It didn’t hurt tha... read more
Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission: Who is Ted Strickland?
A moderate Democrat and first-term governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland has served as the states’ co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission since January.
Born on August 4, 1941, in Lucasville, Ohio, Strickland was one of nine children. His ... read more
Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein: Who is Donald Beyer?
Among the European countries receiving a new U.S. ambassador who raised substantial amounts of money for President Barack Obama, France got an entertainment industry executive, while Belgium and Denmark each got well-known Washington, DC, attorney... read more
Director of Minerals Management Service: Who is Liz Birnbaum?
S. Elizabeth (Liz) Birnbaum was sworn in as the Director of the Mineral's Management Service (MMS) on July 15, 2009. The Minerals Management Service is located within the US Department of the Interior, and manages the natural gas, oil and other mi... read more