Press Release - President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

•      Ariel Pablos-Mendez, Assistant Administrator for Global Health, USAID

•      Dan Arvizu, Member, National Science Board, National Science Foundation

•      Alan Leshner, Member, National Science Board, National Science Foundation

•      Bob Granger, Member, Board of Directors of the National Board for Education Sciences

The President also announced his intent to appoint Leslie Fields and Roberta Ness as members of the Board of Directors of the Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Committee and Frances Ulmer as Chair of the Arctic Research Commission. Their biographies can be found below.

President Obama said, "These dedicated and accomplished individuals will be valued additions to my Administration as we tackle the important challenges facing America. I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead."

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Ariel Pablos-Mendez, Nominee for Assistant Administrator for Global Health, USAID

Dr. Ariel Pablos-Mendez is currently Managing Director at The Rockefeller Foundation and Professor of Clinical Medicine and Epidemiology at Columbia University in New York. Since 2007, he has led the Rockefeller Foundation's global health strategy on the transformation of health systems in Africa and Asia. From 2004 to 2007, Dr. Pablos-Mendez served as Director of Knowledge Management at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, where he established WHO's first eHealth unit. He first joined the Rockefeller Foundation in 1998, spearheading public-private partnerships in R&D for diseases of poverty, the Foundation's strategy on AIDS care in Africa, and the Joint Learning Initiative on Human Resources for Health. Dr. Pablos-Mendez is a Board-certified internist. He received his M.D. from the University of Guadalajara's School of Medicine and his MPH from Columbia University.

Dan Arvizu, Nominee for Member, National Science Board, National Science Foundation

Dr. Dan Arvizu has served as Director and Chief Executive of the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, CO for six years. NREL is the Department of Energy's primary laboratory for energy efficiency and renewable energy research and development. Before NREL, Dr. Arvizu served as Chief Technology Officer with CH2M HILL, and worked for over 20 years with Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM. He started his career at the AT&T Bell Telephone Laboratories. He was first appointed to the National Science Board in 2004 and chaired the Audit and Oversight Committee and the Task Force on Building a Sustainable Energy Future. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Dr. Arvizu holds a BSME from New Mexico State University and a MSME and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.

Alan Leshner, Nominee for Member, National Science Board, National Science Foundation

Alan Leshner has been Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Executive Publisher of the journal Science since December 2001. He previously was Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Acting Director and Deputy Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, both at the National Institutes of Health. Before that, Dr. Leshner spent nine years in various capacities at the National Science Foundation, and prior to that had been Professor of Psychology at Bucknell University. Dr. Leshner serves on the Council of the Institute of Medicine and on the Governing Board of the National Research Council of the National Academies of Science. He was first appoint?ed to the National Science Board in 2004. Dr. Leshner received an undergraduate degree in psychology from Franklin and Marshall College, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physiological psychology from Rutgers University.

Bob Granger, Nominee for Member, Board of Directors of the National Board for Education Sciences

Robert C. Granger is President of the William T. Grant Foundation, a private philanthropic institution that supports youth-related research and activities. Prior to his tenure at the William T. Grant Foundation, Dr. Granger directed work on education, children, and youth in his role as Senior Vice President of the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC). Previously, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Bank Street College of Education. Dr. Granger currently serves on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's IPS Evaluation Advisory Board, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation's Evaluation Advisory Committee, and on the editorial boards for several professional journals. Dr. Granger holds a B.A. in Economics from Claremont McKenna College and an Ed.D. in Early Childhood Education from the University of Massachusetts.

President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Leslie Fields, Appointee for Member, Board of Directors of the Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Committee

Leslie Fields is the National Environmental Justice and Community Partnerships Director for the Sierra Club. She was formerly the International Director of Friends of the Earth and she is currently an adjunct law professor at Howard University School of Law. She serves on the Joint Center for Economic and Political Studies' Commission to Engage African Americans on Climate Change. She also serves on the American Bar Association's Environmental Justice Committee and on the board of Horn Relief. Ms. Fields is a graduate of Cornell University and the Georgetown University Law Center.

Roberta Ness, Appointee for Member, Board of Directors of the Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Committee

Roberta Ness is the Dean of The University of Texas School of Public Health, where she is also the M. David Low Endowed Chair of Public Health and a professor of epidemiology, medicine, obstetrics, and gynecology. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science, a fellow of the American College of Physicians and past-President of the American College of Epidemiology. Dr. Ness received her M.D. from Cornell University and her M.P.H. from Columbia University.

Frances Ulmer, Appointee for Chair, Arctic Research Commission

Fran Ulmer is Chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), Alaska's largest public university. Prior to her appointment as Chancellor in 2007, Ms. Ulmer was a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research at UAA. Ms. Ulmer also served as an elected official for 18 years as the mayor of Juneau, as a state representative and as Lieutenant Governor of Alaska. As a state legislator, Ms. Ulmer served as a member on the Special Committee on the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Claims Settlement. In addition, she was the first Chair of the Alaska Coastal Policy Council, was a member of Governor Tony Knowles' Alaska Highway Natural Gas Policy Council and served for more than 10 years on the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission. Ms. Ulmer also served as Director of Policy Development for the State of Alaska. At the national level, Ms. Ulmer served as a member of the Federal Communications Commission's State and Local Advisory Committee, the Federal Elections Commission's State Advisory Committee and co-chaired the National Academies of Science's Committee on State Voter Registration Databases. Ms. Ulmer was also appointed a member of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling by President Obama in June 2010. She previously was a member of the Aspen Institute's Commission on Arctic Climate Change and held Board positions with the Alaska Nature Conservancy, the National Parks Conservation Association, and the Union of Concerned Scientists. Ms. Ulmer earned a J.D. cum laude from the University of Wisconsin Law School and has been a Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government.