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:

•      Darryl L. DePriest – Chief Counsel for Advocacy, Small Business Administration

•      John D. Feeley – Ambassador to the Republic of Panama, Department of State

•      Beverly Scott – Member, National Transportation Safety Board

•      Michael F. Suarez, S.J. – Member, National Council on the Humanities

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

•      Brigadier General Richard G. Kaiser – Commissioner, Mississippi River Commission

•      Major General Michael C. Wehr – President, Mississippi River Commission

•      Judith Kimble – Chairman, President's Committee on the National Medal of Science

President Obama said, "I am confident that these experienced and hardworking individuals will help us tackle the important challenges facing America, and I am grateful for their service. I look forward to working with them."

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

Darryl L. DePriest, Nominee for Chief Counsel for Advocacy, Small Business Administration

Darryl L. DePriest is currently the Senior Consultant for Legal and Regulatory Communications for Hill + Knowlton Strategies, a position he has held since 2008. Prior to joining Hill + Knowlton, Mr. DePriest served as the General Counsel of the American Bar Association from 1988 until 2006. From 1980 to 1988, Mr. DePriest was a litigation attorney at Jenner & Block, where he was named partner in 1987. From 1979 to 1980, he was a judicial law clerk for the Judge Robert E. Keeton of the United States Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts. Mr. DePriest has also served as a fellow, board member, and president of Leadership Greater Chicago, and as chair of the City of Chicago Board of Ethics. Mr. DePriest received a B.A. from Harvard University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

John D. Feeley, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of Panama, Department of State

John D. Feeley, a career member of the Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the Department of State, a position he has held since 2012. Previously, Mr. Feeley served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Mexico from 2009 to 2012, Assessor in the Office of Recruitment from 2008 to 2009, and Director of the Office of Central American Affairs from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that, Mr. Feeley was Deputy Executive Secretary in the Executive Secretariat from 2004 to 2006, Deputy Director in the Office of Andean Affairs from 2003 to 2004, and Deputy Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City from 2001 to 2003. He also served as Deputy Director in the Office of Caribbean Affairs from 2000 to 2001, Executive Assistant in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs from 1999 to 2000, and as a Policy Planning Officer in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs from 1998 to 1999. His earlier assignments with the Department of State included postings in Colombia and the Dominican Republic. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps form 1983 to 1990. Mr. Feeley received a B.S. from Georgetown University and an M.A. from the National Defense University.

Beverly Scott, Nominee for Member, National Transportation Safety Board

Beverly Scott most recently served as the General Manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and as the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Rail & Transit Administrator, roles she held from 2012 to April 2015. Dr. Scott has also served as a Member on the National Infrastructure Advisory Council since 2011 and was designated Vice Chair in 2012. From 2007 to 2012, she was the Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. Prior to that, Dr. Scott served as the Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of the Sacramento Regional Transit District from 2002 to 2007. From 1996 to 2002, she was the General Manager of the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority. Previously, Dr. Scott was the Deputy General Manager for Administration for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority from 1994 to 1996. From 1992 to 1994, she was the Executive Director for the National Forum for Black Public Administrators. Before that role, Dr. Scott served as the Assistant Executive Director for Administration for the New Jersey Transit Corporation from 1990 to 1992. From 1985 to 1990, she held several roles at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York, including Vice President of Surface Transit at New York City Transit Authority from 1988 to 1990, and Senior Vice President of Operations Support for the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority in 1990. Dr. Scott received a B.A. from Fisk University and a Ph.D. from Howard University.

Michael F. Suarez, S.J., Nominee for Member, National Council on the Humanities

Michael F. Suarez, S.J. is Director of Rare Book School, University Professor, Professor of English, and Honorary Curator of Special Collections at the University of Virginia, positions he has held since 2009. Mr. Suarez held the J.A. Kavanaugh Chair in English at Fordham University from 1999 to 2009, and was a Fellow and Tutor as a member of the Oxford University Faculty of English from 1995 to 2009. He was a Junior Research Fellow at St. John's College, Oxford from 1995 to 1999, and was an Instructor at LeMoyne College from 1988 to 1990. Mr. Suarez has been Editor-in-Chief of Oxford Scholarly Editions Online for Oxford University Press since 2010. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Library Company of Philadelphia, the Advisory Board of the Library of Congress Literacy Awards Program, the Council of The Bibliographical Society of America, and the Board of Managers of the Lewis Walpole Library at Yale University. Mr. Suarez has received numerous awards and honors, including a Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Fellowship from 2005 to 2006, a Research Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies from 2003 to 2004, a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Fellowship in 1990, and a Marshall Scholarship at Oxford University from 1984 to 1987. He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1994 after entering the Society of Jesus in 1982. Mr. Suarez received a B.A. from Bucknell University, an M.Th. and M.Div. from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology, and an M.A./B.A., M.St., and D.Phil., from Oxford University.

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

Brigadier General Richard G. Kaiser, Appointee for Commissioner, Mississippi River Commission

Brigadier General Richard G. Kaiser is Commander and Division Engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Great Lakes and Ohio River Division, positions he has held since 2014. General Kaiser was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in 2014. Previously, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations with the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in England from 2013 to 2014. General Kaiser served as Chief of Staff of the 82nd Airborne Division from 2012 to 2013. He served as Commander of the 20th Engineer Brigade at Fort Bragg, North Carolina from 2008 to 2012 and in Operation New Dawn in Iraq. General Kaiser was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1987. He has received numerous awards and decorations, including the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, and Army Commendation Medal. General Kaiser received a B.S. from Marquette University, an M.S. from University of Missouri-Rolla, and an M.S. from the U.S. Army War College.

Major General Michael C. Wehr, Appointee for President, Mississippi River Commission

Major General Michael C. Wehr is Commander for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Division, a position he has held since 2014. He was promoted to the rank of Major General in 2014. General Wehr commanded the South Pacific Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, from 2011 to 2013. He served in Joint Assignments including Director, Joint Engineering Directorate, United States Forces-Afghanistan, and Commander, Transatlantic Division (Forward), Afghanistan from 2013 to 2014. General Wehr served in additional operational assignments including Director, CJ-Engineer, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan from 2010 to 2011, Commander, 307th Engineer Battalion, 82 nd Airborne Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq from 2003 to 2004, and service within the Division Engineer, 82 nd Airborne Division during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Saudi Arabia and Iraq from 1990 to 1991. He served as the Engineer Plans Officer, United States Pacific Command, Camp H. M. Smith, Hawaii from 2001 to 2003. General Wehr has received numerous awards and decorations including the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, and Bronze Star Medal. He was a Senior Service College Military Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006. General Wehr received a B.S. from Santa Clara University and an M.S. from the University of Texas.

Dr. Judith Kimble, Appointee for Chairman, President's Committee on the National Medal of Science
Dr. Judith Kimble is the Vilas Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. One of her major contributions was the discovery of the first stem cell ‘niche,' which controls stem cell maintenance. Dr. Kimble is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. She has been President of the Genetics Society of America and the Society for Developmental Biology, and has served on numerous boards and committees, both nationally and internationally. Dr. Kimble was a member of the President's Committee on the National Medal of Science from 2012 to 2014. She completed her postdoctoral training at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. Dr. Kimble received an A.B. from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. from University of Colorado at Boulder.