Press Release - President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

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

•      Richard Howorth – Member, Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority

•      Harry K. Thomas, Jr. – Ambassador to the Republic of Zimbabwe, Department of State

•      Victoria Wassmer – Under Secretary, Department of Energy

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

•      Sandra E. Black – Member, Council of Economic Advisers

•      Raymond Cook – Chief Information Officer of the Intelligence Community, Office of the Director of National Intelligence

•      Brooke D. Anderson – Member, President's Intelligence Advisory Board

•      Robert L. Stein – Member, President's Intelligence Advisory Board

•      Barbara Rimer – Chairman, President's Cancer Panel

•      Owen Witte – Member, President's Cancer Panel

President Obama said, "These fine public servants bring a depth of experience and tremendous dedication to their important roles. I look forward to working with them."

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

Richard Howorth, Nominee for Member, Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority

Richard Howorth serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority, a position to which he was appointed in 2011. He is also the owner of Square Books, an independent bookstore in Oxford, Mississippi that he founded in 1979. From 2007 to 2011, Mr. Howorth was director of Lafayette Oxford University Home Ownership Management Enterprises. Previously, he was a director of the Lafayette Oxford Foundation for Tomorrow from 2004 to 2011. From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Howorth served as a member on the Board of Directors of the Three Rivers Planning and Development Corporation. Prior to that role, he was a member of the Board of Directors for the Commission on the Future of Northeast Mississippi from 2002 to 2004. From 2001 to 2009, Mr. Howorth served two terms as the Mayor of Oxford, Mississippi. During that time, he also served as a director and officer of the North Mississippi Industrial Development Association from 2001 to 2009. Mr. Howorth was the President, and Chairman of the American Booksellers Association from 1999 to 2000, and he served as member of the board from 1990 to 2000. From 1998 to 2010, he was the executive producer of the Thacker Mountain Radio Show. Mr. Howorth received a B.A. from the University of Mississippi.

Harry K. Thomas, Jr., Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of Zimbabwe, Department of State

Harry K. Thomas, Jr., a career member of the Foreign Service, class of Career-Minister, currently serves as Diplomat in Residence at Arizona State University, a position he has held since 2013. Previously, Mr. Thomas served as U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines from 2010 to 2013, Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources for the State Department from 2007 to 2009, and Executive Secretary of the Department of State from 2005 to 2007. Prior to that, he was U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh from 2003 to 2005. He attended the Senior Seminar at the Department's Foreign Service Institute from 2002 to 2003 and was Director for South Asia on the National Security Council Staff from 2001 to 2002. Mr. Thomas also served as Director and Deputy Director of the Department's Operations Center from 1998 to 2001 and Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India from 1995 to 1998. His earlier assignments with the Department include serving as Operations Officer in the Operations Center, Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Political/Economic Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Kaduna, Nigeria and Consular Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru. Mr. Thomas received an A.B. from the College of Holy Cross and an M.S. from Columbia University.

Victoria Wassmer, Nominee for Under Secretary, Department of Energy

Victoria Wassmer is the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Finance and Management at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at the Department of Transportation, a position she has held since 2011. Previously, she served as the Vice President for Administration and Finance at the Millennium Challenge Corporation from 2010 to 2011. From 2004 to 2010, Ms. Wassmer held various roles at FAA, including Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Chief Financial Officer from 2009 to 2010, Deputy Director for the Office of Budget from 2007 to 2009, and Manager of the Performance and Cost Analysis Division from 2004 to 2007. Previously, she was a Senior Associate at the Carmen Group from 2003 to 2004. From 2002 to 2003, Ms. Wassmer was a Program Analyst at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Prior to that role, she was a Program Examiner and Acting Branch Chief of the Transportation Branch in the Office of Management and Budget from 1998 to 2002 and a Policy Analyst and Special Assistant from 1996 to 1998. From 1990 to 1991, Ms. Wassmer was a Project Manager at Stein & Company. Ms. Wassmer received a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College and an M.P.P. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

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

Dr. Sandra E. Black, Appointee for Member, Council of Economic Advisers

Dr. Sandra E. Black is the Audre and Bernard Rapoport Centennial Chair in Economics and Public Affairs and is a Professor of Economics at the University of Texas at Austin, positions she has held since 2010. She is also a Research Associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor. Between 1997 and 2001, Dr. Black was an Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and from 2001 until 2010 she was an Assistant, Associate, and ultimately full Professor of Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles. During her career, Dr. Black has also been affiliated with the Paris School of Economics, the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and Princeton University. She was the Editor of the Journal of Human Resources, a title she held from 2012 to 2015, and a Co-Editor of the Journal of Human Resources from 2005 to 2012. She has also been an Associate Editor of the American Economic Review, the Review of Economics and Statistics, and Labour Economics. Dr. Black received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.

Dr. Raymond Cook, Appointee for Chief Information Officer of the Intelligence Community, Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Dr. Raymond Cook, a career member of the Senior Intelligence Service, is Director of the Office of Space Reconnaissance for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a position he has held since 2014. Dr. Cook serves concurrently as Director of Mission Operations for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), a position he has held since 2013. Before his appointment to the NRO, Dr. Cook led a cross-agency processing and analysis mission within the CIA, for which he was recognized as a Director of National Intelligence Fellow in 2010 and as CIA Engineer of the Year in 2009. In his 22 years of Federal service, Dr. Cook has held a number of technical and leadership roles in the Intelligence Community. He was also named CIA Engineer of the Year in 1999. Dr. Cook received a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Ambassador Brooke D. Anderson, Appointee for Member, President's Intelligence Advisory Board

Ambassador Brooke D. Anderson most recently served as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State and the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs on the Iran Nuclear Negotiations and is currently a visiting professor at Montana State University. From 2011 to 2012, she was Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff and Counselor for the National Security Council. From 2010 to 2011, Ambassador Anderson was Alternate Representative of the United States for Special Political Affairs to the United Nations. Prior to that, she was Chief of Staff and Counselor to Ambassador Susan E. Rice at the United States Mission to the United Nations. With more than 25 years experience working in the public policy arena, Ambassador Anderson has worked at the White House National Security Council, the Department of Energy, the House of Representatives for Congressman David Skaggs and Congressman Frank Guarini, and in the nonprofit and private sectors. She was Chief National Security Spokesperson and Policy Advisor for the Obama-Biden Transition Team and a member of the National Security Council Transition Team. From 2001 to 2008, Ambassador Anderson worked for the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit co-chaired by former Senator Sam Nunn and Ted Turner, which focuses on reducing global threats from nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. While at the National Security Council under President Clinton, she was Senior Director for Communications and Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Ambassador Anderson received a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College.

Robert L. Stein, Appointee for Member, President's Intelligence Advisory Board

Robert L. Stein has served as President of The Regency Group since 2008 and as a Partner at Chartwell Capital since 1994. Mr. Stein has served as a member of the Board of Visitors to the United States Naval Academy since 2012. He also serves on the Board of Visitors of the University of Georgia School of Public and International Affairs and is a member of the Florida Council of 100, a nonprofit organization that promotes economic growth in Florida. He previously served as a Chairman of the Defense Business Board, which advises the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense on effective business practices for application to the Department of Defense. Mr. Stein received a B.A. from the University of South Carolina.

Dr. Barbara K. Rimer, Appointee for Chairman, President's Cancer Panel

Dr. Barbara K. Rimer is the Dean and Alumni Distinguished Professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, positions she has held since 2005 and 2003, respectively. She has served as a Member of the President's Cancer Panel since 2011 and was its Chairman from 2011 to 2012. She was Deputy Director for Population Sciences at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at UNC from 2003 to 2005. From 1997 to 2002, Dr. Rimer served as Director of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the National Cancer Institute. From 1991 to 1997, she was Director of Cancer Prevention, Detection and Control Research at the Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center. In 1994, President Clinton appointed her to the National Cancer Advisory Board, where she served until 1997. Between 1981 and 1991, Dr. Rimer held various leadership positions at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, including Director of Behavioral Research, Director of Health Communications Research, and Senior Health Educator. She has served on a number of boards, including the Task Force on Community Preventive Services and the Board of Directors of American Family Life Assurance Company (Aflac). Dr. Rimer was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in 2008. She received a B.A. and an M.P.H. from the University of Michigan and a DrPH from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Dr. Owen N. Witte, Appointee for Member, President's Cancer Panel

Dr. Owen N. Witte is currently Director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), a position he has held since 2007. He has served as a Member of the President's Cancer Panel since 2011. He has served as Distinguished Professor in the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at UCLA and as Distinguished Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics since 2004. Additionally, Dr. Witte has served as an Investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1986. From 2010 to 2013, he was Deputy Director of the Caltech-UCLA Joint Center for Translational Medicine, and from 2005 to 2007 he served as the Founding Director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Witte has served on the faculty of UCLA since 1980 and has been the David Saxon Presidential Chair in Developmental Immunology since 1989. He has served on a number of boards and review committees, including the American Association for Cancer Research, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Pew Scholar Awards, and Lasker Medical Research Award Jury. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1997 and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in 2003. Dr. Witte received a B.S. from Cornell University and an M.D. from the Stanford University School of Medicine.