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:

• Ben Cardin, to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations
• Dan Sullivan, to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations
• Tanya Leigh Flores, to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations
• Michael Trager, to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations
• Adam Gamoran, to be Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education

Additionally, President Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve as Republican members of boards and commissions that are required, by statute, to include bipartisan membership.

• Lanhee J. Chen, to be a Member (Republican) of the Amtrak Board of Directors
• Gordon Hartogensis, to be a Governor (Republican) of the United States Postal Service Board of Governors

Ben Cardin, to be Representative of the United States to the 79th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations

Born and raised in Baltimore, Senator Ben Cardin has dedicated his life to public service. He is an outspoken champion for human rights and has been a national leader on foreign policy, tax policy and the environment while representing the people of Maryland in the U.S. Senate, and before that in the House of Representatives. He is a former Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates. Currently serving as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Cardin has worked across party lines to further U.S. national security and to ensure that democracy, anti-corruption, transparency, good governance and respect for civil and human rights are integrated into American actions at home and abroad.

Senator Cardin is the lead author of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights and Accountability Act, which gives the United States the power to deny travel and banking privileges to individuals worldwide who commit gross violations of human rights against rights defenders and dissidents, and leaders who commit acts of significant corruption. He also is the author of the recently reauthorized Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, which in 2018 codified into law the prevention of atrocities as a national security interest.

Senator Cardin also serves on the Environment and Public Works, Finance and Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committees. He is a strident defender of the Chesapeake Bay and the environment. He has led multiple, bipartisan delegations to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, dating back to the Paris Accords. He has taken the lead on reviving the Equal Rights Amendment, believes health care is a right of all Americans, and fights for resources to fix our crumbling water infrastructure.

Dan Sullivan, to be Representative of the United States to the 79th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations

Dan Sullivan was sworn in as Alaska's eighth United States Senator on January 6, 2015. Senator Sullivan serves on four Senate committees vital to Alaska: Armed Services, Environment and Public Works Committee, Veterans' Affairs, and Commerce, Science and Transportation.

Senator Sullivan has been able to pass numerous bills and amendments related to rebuilding and modernizing our country's military, expanding responsible resource development, reining in federal overreach, spurring economic development, expanding benefits for veterans, and helping those who are most vulnerable, including survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.

Prior to his election to the Senate, Sullivan served as Alaska's Attorney General and Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources—where he focused on growing Alaska's economy and pushing back against federal government overreach. Senator Sullivan served in the George W. Bush administration as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Business under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and as a Director in the International Economics Directorate of the National Security Council staff at the White House.

He served for 30 years in the United States Marine Corps, retiring on February 1, 2024, as a Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve. He also serves as Chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI).

Senator Sullivan holds a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University and a joint Law and Master of Science degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. He and his wife, Julie Fate Sullivan, were married in 1994 in Julie's hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska. They have three daughters.

Tanya Leigh Flores, to be Representative of the United States to the 79th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations

Tanya Leigh Flores is a communications and operations strategist who has worked with Fortune 50 corporations, federal, state, and local governments, and non-profit organizations. She has previously served in various roles in support of the Biden-Harris Administration, including spousal program operations for the Department of State for the 2022 Summit of Americas in Los Angeles as well as an advisor to the Department of Homeland Security on leadership planning for the 2023 North America Leaders' Summit in Mexico City and the 2023 Munich Security Conference.

Flores was Chief Operating Officer for the 59th Presidential Inaugural Committee, where she managed a diverse portfolio of divisions, including financial and event operations, security, credentialing, human resources, and COVID-19 safety. During the 2020 election cycle, she served as Director of Scheduling and Advance for the Biden-Harris campaign. In 2021, Flores was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom as Deputy Director of the California Film Commission where she oversaw operations, outreach, and legislative efforts in support of filming in the State of California. Flores served in a senior role on the LA28 Bid Committee, helping to obtain the award of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which are to be hosted by the city of Los Angeles in 2028. She has traveled as head of advance delegations for the Bidens since 2011.

Flores holds MBA degrees from both Columbia Business School and UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and a B.A. from the University of Maryland. A native Texan, she lives in Los Angeles with her partner, Michael Dundas.

Michael Trager, to be Representative of the United States to the 79th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations

Michael Trager has spent time in both government and the private sector. In 2022, Trager was appointed by President Biden to the U.S. Department of State's Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, where he continues to serve as Vice Chair and on the Executive Committee. The Board supervises the global Fulbright Program, which is led by the U.S. government in partnership with more than 160 countries to promote worldwide mutual understanding and provide for a more secure and peaceful world. The Program is a primary facilitator of international educational exchange, cultural diplomacy, and soft power.

Previously, Trager had been a Washington lawyer for 35 years and a U.S. government attorney prior to entering private practice. He was the founding Co-Chair of the Securities Enforcement and Litigation Practice at the international law firm of Arnold & Porter, and he held that position for approximately two decades as well as other firmwide leadership roles while a senior partner. In private practice, he represented clients in governmental and regulatory investigations and matters, and he was recognized and ranked nationally as a leading lawyer in his field.

At the beginning of his career, Trager served in the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the Washington Headquarters. He earned a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law. While at Wesleyan, he studied abroad at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He resides in Washington, D.C. and is married to Mariella Trager. They have two adult children.

Adam Gamoran, to be Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education

Adam Gamoran is President of the William T. Grant Foundation, a charitable organization that supports research to improve the lives of young people. Previously, he held the John D. MacArthur Chair in Sociology and Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he spent three decades engaged in research on educational inequality and school reform. He has lectured at universities across the United States and worldwide, and his writing has appeared in books, journals, magazines, blog posts, and other media. In 2021-2022, he led a committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that produced a report on The Future of Education Research at IES. For his research contributions, he has been honored by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, the American Educational Research Association, and the Sociology of Education Section of the American Sociological Association. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member and former vice president of the National Academy of Education, and he was twice appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the National Board for Education Sciences.

Lanhee J. Chen, to be a Member (Republican) of the Amtrak Board of Directors

Lanhee J. Chen is the David and Diane Steffy Fellow in American Public Policy Studies at the Hoover Institution and Director of Domestic Policy Studies and Lecturer in the Public Policy Program at Stanford University. Chen has spent his career in business, government, as well as academia, and was a candidate in 2022 for California State Controller, the state's chief fiscal officer. Chen is a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Governance Committee at El Camino Health in Northern California, and previously served as Board Chair. He is also a Partner at the Brunswick Group, a global critical issues advisory firm, where he is co-lead of the U.S. Public Affairs, Policy and Regulatory practice. Chen is also an adviser to or serves on the boards of several private companies and nonprofit organizations. Previously, he was an operating partner at NewRoad Capital Partners, a private equity firm.

From 2014 to 2018, Chen was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a member of the Social Security Advisory Board. He also served in the George W. Bush Administration as a senior official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Chen has been a policy adviser to four U.S. presidential campaigns, including as Policy Director to Senator Mitt Romney during his 2012 bid for the presidency.

Chen earned his PhD and A.M. in Political Science from Harvard University; his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School; and his A.B. magna cum laude in Government from Harvard College.

Gordon Hartogensis, to be a Governor (Republican) of the United States Postal Service Board of Governors

Gordon Hartogensis is an entrepreneur, investor, and government official who recently completed a five-year term as the Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) from 2019-2024.

Hartogensis left an early career on Wall Street in 1993 to build a startup software company called Petrolsoft Corporation – a supply chain and logistics company that was later acquired by Aspen Technology. He served in a leadership role at Aspen until June 2002.

Shortly after his departure from Aspen Technology, he founded Auric Technology, a customer relationship management software company. In 2011, Auric was sold to Telnorm. Following his departure from Auric, he was an angel investor and advisor to several technology startups in cybersecurity, immunotherapy, streaming video, fintech, and artificial intelligence.

Hartogensis grew up in Maryland where he attended Montgomery County public schools. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University and an M.S. in Technology Management from Columbia University.

Hartogensis and his wife Grace reside in Connecticut.