Nomination of Robert Ortner To Be an Under Secretary of Commerce

The President today announced his intention to nominate Robert Ortner to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs. He would succeed Sidney Lewis Jones.

Since 1981 Mr. Ortner has been serving as Chief Economist at the Department of Commerce. Previously he was senior vice president and economist and a member of the investment policy committee for the Bank of New York in 1965-1981. From 1973 to 1981, he also served as director and as a member of the finance committee for the North American Reassurance Corp. and the North American Reinsurance Corp.

Mr. Ortner graduated from the University of Pennsylvania (B.S., 1949) and Columbia University (M.S., 1954; Ph.D., 1960). He is married, has two children, and resides in Washington, DC. He was born October 19, 1927, in Short Hills, NJ.