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:

•      Kevin K. Washburn – Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior

•      Jenny R. Yang – Commissioner, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

President Obama said, "These individuals have demonstrated knowledge and dedication throughout their careers. I am grateful they have chosen to take on these important roles, and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come."

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

Kevin K. Washburn, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior

Kevin K. Washburn is Dean of the University of New Mexico School of Law, a position he has held since June 2009. Prior to that, he served as the Rosenstiel Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law from 2008 to 2009 and as an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School from 2002 to 2008. From 2007 to 2008, Mr. Washburn was the Oneida Indian Nation Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. Previously, he served as General Counsel for the National Indian Gaming Commission from 2000 to 2002, and as an Assistant United States Attorney in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from 1997 to 2000. Mr. Washburn was a trial attorney in the Indian Resources Section of the U.S. Department of Justice from 1994 to 1997. Mr. Washburn is a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. He earned a B.A. from the University of Oklahoma and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Jenny R. Yang, Nominee for Commissioner, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Jenny R. Yang is a partner at the law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, where she has worked in the Civil Rights and Employment Practice Group since 2003. Previously, Ms. Yang served in the Employment Litigation Section in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 1998 to 2003, first as a trial attorney, and then as a senior trial attorney. From 1997 to 1998, Ms. Yang was a New York University Community Service Fund attorney fellow at the National Employment Law Project, and from 1996 to 1997, she served as a judicial law clerk for Judge Edmund V. Ludwig of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Ms. Yang is Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center and a former Co-Chair of the National Governing Board for the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum. She received a B.A. in Government from Cornell University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.