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:

•      Phillip Carter, Ambassador to the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire, Department of State

•      Gerald Feierstein, Ambassador to the Republic of Yemen, Department of State

•      Peter Michael McKinley, Ambassador to the Republic of Colombia, Department of State

President Obama said, "These dedicated and talented individuals will be valued additions to my Administration. I am grateful for their service and look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead."

President Obama also announced his intent to appoint Patricia J. Niehaus as a Member of the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations and John D. Arras as a Member of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. Their bios are below.

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

Phillip Carter, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire, Department of State

Phillip Carter is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. He currently serves as a Senior Advisor to the African Affairs Bureau. He previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs and has also served as the Director for West African Affairs and the Deputy Director in the Office for East African Affairs. Overseas posts include Deputy Chief of Mission in Madagascar and Gabon; Economic and Commercial Officer in Bangladesh and Malawi; Deputy Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Winnipeg, Canada; and Vice Consul at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. Ambassador Carter received an M.A in International and Development Economics from Yale University and earned a B.A. in Economics and History from Drew University.

Gerald Feierstein, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of Yemen, Department of State

Gerald Feierstein is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. He currently serves as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad. He previously served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Coordinator and Deputy Assistant Coordinator of Programs in the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism. His overseas assignments include Tunis, Riyadh, Peshawar, Muscat, Jerusalem and Beirut. Earlier, he served as Desk Office for Nepal, Pakistan and Egypt; Deputy Director in the Office of the Arabian Peninsula Affairs; Director of the Office of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh Affairs; and as Director of the Office of Regional Affairs in the Near East Bureau. Feierstein holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Point Park College and an M.A. in International Relations from Duquesne University.

Peter Michael McKinley, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of Colombia, Department of State

P. Michael McKinley is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. He currently serves as the U.S. Ambassador to Peru. He previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d' Affaires at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels. He has also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. Ambassador McKinley was Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d' Affaires at U.S. Embassies in Mozambique, Uganda, and Belgium. Earlier assignments include U.S. Embassy London, three tours in Washington and Bolivia. Ambassador McKinley completed his undergraduate and graduate studies in the United Kingdom, and has a doctorate from Oxford University.

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

Patricia J. Niehaus, Appointee for Member, National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations

Patricia J. Niehaus is currently the National President of the Federal Managers Association (FMA). Professionally, Ms. Niehaus is the Labor Relations Officer for Travis Air Force Base in California with over 25 years of experience in the federal workforce. Ms. Niehaus currently advises several tenant organizations on Travis AFB on all aspects of labor and employee-management relations issues while also serving as an advisor and facilitator for several pay pool panels. She is also an active member of the management negotiating team for two negotiated agreements currently under consideration, one of which covers the first Air Force bargaining unit of NSPS employees. Ms. Niehaus attended Solano Community College as a part-time student and eventually obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Management in 1992 from St Mary's College of California.

Dr. John D. Arras, Appointee for Member, Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues

Dr. John Arras is the Porterfield Professor of Biomedical Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Virginia, where he directs the Program in Bioethics and is affiliated with the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Humanities in the Medical School. Dr. Arras is a longtime Fellow and former Board member of the Hastings Center, the nation's preeminent research institute in bioethics. He also consults regularly at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD, and serves on the national ethics committee of the March of Dimes. He was a founding member of the ethics advisory board of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta (2004-08). Prior to his move to U.Va. in 1995, Dr. Arras was, for 14 years, Associate Professor of Bioethics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine-Montefiore Medical Center, and adjunct Associate Professor of Philosophy at Barnard College/Columbia University. During those years he also served as a member of former Governor Mario Cuomo's New York State Task Force on Life and the Law. In 2006 he received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the Virginia State Council on Higher Education. Dr. Arras received his B.A. from the University of San Francisco and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University.