Press Release - President Biden Announces Key Nominees

WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve as key leaders in his administration.

• Ana A. Escrogima, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Sultanate of Oman
• Jean Elizabeth Manes, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of the Colombia
• Ervin Jose Massinga, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
• Matthew D. Murray, Nominee for the Rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service as United States Senior Official for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
• Yael Lempert, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
• Stephanie Syptak-Ramnath, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Peru
• Dorothy Camille Shea, Nominee for Deputy Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, with the rank and status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and the Deputy Representative of the United States of America in the Security Council of the United Nations as well as Representative of the United States of America to the Sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations, during her tenure of service as Deputy Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations
• Demetrios L. Kouzoukas, Nominee for Member of the Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund Board of Trustees, the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund Board of Trustees, and the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Board of Trustees

Also today, the White House will begin renominating candidates who were not confirmed in the last Congress. Today's transmission to the Senate will include nominees to serve as agency heads, as U.S. Ambassadors, in key national security positions, and on bipartisan boards and commissions. The White House will continue transmitting renominations to the Senate in the coming weeks and hopes the Senate will take action expeditiously.

Ana A. Escrogima, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Sultanate of Oman

Ana A. Escrogima is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Counselor. She currently serves as Consul General of the U.S. Consulate General in Montreal, Canada. Prior to that, Escrogima was the Director of the Regional and Multilateral Affairs Office in the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. She also served as the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Yemen Affairs Unit, based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as the Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Algiers, Algeria, and as the Deputy Director for Syria, in the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau. Among her other postings Escrogima served at the State Department as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs, as Deputy Director of the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau in the Office of Press and Public Diplomacy, and as the Arabic Language Spokesperson at the Arabic Regional Media Hub in Dubai, UAE. Escrogima earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in New York, New York. In addition, she received an International Studies Certificate from L'Institut de Sciences Politiques, Paris, France. Escrogima speaks Arabic, Spanish and French.

Jean Elizabeth Manes, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of the Colombia

Jean Elizabeth Manes, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as Civilian Deputy to the Commander and Senior Foreign Policy Advisor, U.S. Southern Command, a position she has held since 2019. Previously, Manes served as U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador from 2016 to 2019. She has served domestically at the U.S. Department of State as Principal Deputy Coordinator for the Bureau of International Information Programs and as Director of Resources for the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Her overseas assignments include Public Affairs Officer in Afghanistan; Principal Officer in the Azores, Portugal; and assignments in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Syria. She is the recipient of a Distinguished Presidential Rank Award, five Senior Foreign Service Performance Awards, multiple Superior Honor Awards, was named Public Diplomacy Professional of the Year and was the recipient of the Lois Roth Award for Excellence in Education and Cultural Diplomacy. A native of Florida, Manes speaks fluent Spanish and Portuguese. She has a Master's degree in Public Administration from American University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor of Science degree in Foreign Policy from Liberty University in Virginia. 

Ervin Jose Massinga, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Ervin Jose Massinga, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department's Bureau of African Affairs. Prior to that, Massinga was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Pakistan Affairs in the State Department's Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs and, before that, he was the Director of the Bureau's Pakistan Office. Earlier, Massinga was Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan and of the U.S. Embassy in Conakry, Guinea. Among his other assignments, he was a United States Trade Representative Trade Policy Officer, served at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China as Chief of the Macroeconomic, Finance, Energy Economic Unit and in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, as the Deputy Chief of the U.S. Embassy's Political/Economic Unit. Massinga earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and his Master of Arts degree from the University of Washington, School of Public Administration. His foreign languages are French, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese.

Matthew D. Murray, Nominee for the Rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service as United States Senior Official for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

Matthew D. Murray, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Counselor, has served as the United States Senior Official for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) since February 2022. In this role, he coordinates U.S. participation in APEC and oversees the Office of Economic Policy in the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Prior to this assignment, Murray led the State Department's Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs as Senior Bureau Official. Earlier, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Trade Policy and Negotiations. Murray has focused on U.S. economic engagement with the Asia Pacific region throughout his State Department career, including as Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, Counselor for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Canberra, and Special Assistant for East Asian and Pacific Issues in the Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment. Murray has also served overseas in Beijing, Shanghai, Dar es Salaam, and New Delhi and in Washington, D.C. as Director of the Watch in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Murray is the recipient of numerous State Department performance awards, including a Senior Foreign Service Performance Award. A native of Maryland, he holds Master's degrees from the U.S. Army War College and the University of Pittsburgh, and a Bachelor's degree from Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. He speaks Chinese. 

Yael Lempert, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Yael Lempert, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the Department of State, where she previously served as Acting Assistant Secretary. Prior to that, she was Chargé d'Affaires, ad interim at the U.S. Embassy in London, where she also served as Deputy Chief of Mission. Earlier, Lempert was Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Egypt and North Africa, and the Senior Director for the Levant, Israel, and Egypt at the National Security Council, also serving as Special Assistant to the President. She also served as Deputy Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, and worked at the U.S. Embassy in Libya, where she served as Acting Deputy Chief of Mission. Prior to that, she served at the U.S. Embassy in Egypt. Other assignments include Director for Iraq at the National Security Council; Governance Officer at the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad; Special Assistant for South Asian and Near Eastern Affairs to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; Iraq desk officer; and tours in the Department of State's Bureau of Nonproliferation, and the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai. Lempert is the recipient of numerous State Department performance awards, including a Presidential Meritorious Service Award and the National Security Council's Outstanding Service Award. A native of New York, she earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She speaks Arabic. 

Stephanie Syptak-Ramnath, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Peru

Stephanie Syptak-Ramnath, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Career-Minister, currently serves as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Mexico. Prior to that, she served as Deputy Executive Secretary in the Office of the Secretary of State, where she also led the Department's Operations Center. Previously, she served as Chargé d'Affaires, ad interim, at the U.S. Embassy in Singapore. Earlier, she was Minister Counselor for Public Diplomacy at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Deputy Chief of Mission in Bamako, Mali, and Senior Deputy Director in the Office of Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Other assignments include Tunis, Tunisia; the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York; and Monterrey, Mexico. A recent recipient of a Meritorious Presidential Rank Award, Syptak-Ramnath has also received numerous State Department awards, including the Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Public Diplomacy and five Senior Foreign Service Performance Awards. A native of Texas, Syptak-Ramnath is a graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and also completed a fellowship in executive leadership with the International Women's Forum (IWF). Prior to joining the Foreign Service, she was an officer in the U.S. Navy. She speaks Spanish and French.

Dorothy Camille Shea, Nominee for Deputy Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, with the rank and status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and the Deputy Representative of the United States of America in the Security Council of the United Nations as well as Representative of the United States of America to the Sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations, during her tenure of service as Deputy Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations

Dorothy Shea, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon. Prior to that, she served as the Deputy Chief of Mission of the United States Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, as the Deputy Principal Officer at the then-United States Consulate General in Jerusalem, and as Director of the Office of Assistance for Asia and the Near East in the Bureau of Population, Refugees. Among her other assignments, Shea was a Pearson Fellow with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Political/Economic Counselor at the United States Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, and a Political Officer at the United States Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel. She also served as a Director for Democracy and Human Rights at the National Security Council, and a Special Assistant to the Special Envoy for War Crimes Issues in the Department of State. Shea earned her Bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia, a Master of Science degree from Georgetown University, and a second Master of Science degree from the National War College. She speaks French and Arabic.

Demetrios L. Kouzoukas, Nominee for Member of the Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund Board of Trustees, the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund Board of Trustees, and the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Board of Trustees

Demetrios L. Kouzoukas has deep experience in every part of health care. He is a partner at the Team8 Health venture foundry, a member of the Board of Directors of Clover Health, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Health Policy. Kouzoukas previously served as the Chief Executive of the Medicare program at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). In that role, he worked with patients, policymakers, and others to improve health care in the United States, as well as testified before Congress. Prior to joining CMS, Kouzoukas was a senior executive at UnitedHealthcare. He has also served as Principal Associate Deputy Secretary and as Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with responsibilities across the Department's entire portfolio. He has built practices focused on new health care regulations and business models at two law firms. In addition, he has represented the public as an expert in public administration and health benefits as an appointee to the Administrative Conference of the United States.