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: 

• Roger F. Nyhus, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Barbados, the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Lynne M. Tracy, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Russian Federation
• Travis Hill, Nominee for Member and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• Jonathan McKernan, Nominee for Member of the Board of Directors, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Roger F. Nyhus, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Barbados, the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Roger F. Nyhus is a Seattle business and civic leader. He is the founder and former CEO of Nyhus Communications, one of Seattle’s leading communications and public affairs firms, and the eighth largest Native American-owned company in Washington state. Over three decades, he has represented numerous clients in advancing global commercial engagement and people-to-people exchange and has participated in international trade missions to China, Ireland, Cuba, and the United Arab Emirates. Nyhus has served as a trusted adviser to business, government, and nonprofit leaders around the world, including CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. During his career, he also was the longest-serving Communications Director for Washington Governor Gary Locke, a Senior Advocacy Officer for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Communications Director for Seattle Mayor Paul Schell. Nyhus is an engaged community leader, LGBTQ+ and BIPOC civil rights advocate, and champion of wildlife conservation and the arts. Nyhus is an enrolled member of the Chinook Indian Nation. He has led Seattle’s Community Development Roundtable and served on the boards of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Seattle Association. Nyhus earned his Bachelor’s degree from the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University.

Lynne M. Tracy, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Russian Federation

Lynne M. Tracy is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Career Minister, and presently serves as the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. Prior to that Tracy was the Senior Adviser for Russia in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and, before that, the Deputy Chief of Mission at U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia. Earlier, Tracy served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central Asia in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs and as Director for Central Asia at the National Security Council. Her other overseas assignments include service as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Principal Officer in Peshawar, Pakistan, and Principal Officer in Astana, Kazakhstan. Her domestic assignments include service as Desk Officer for Kazakhstan and for Georgia in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, and Staff Assistant for the Special Envoy for the Newly-Independent States at the Department of State. Tracy earned a Bachelor’s degree in Soviet Studies from the University of Georgia and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Akron. She is the recipient of the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award, the Secretary of State’s Award for Heroism, and a Presidential Meritorious Service Award. She speaks Russian.

Travis Hill, Nominee for Member and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Travis Hill worked at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from 2018 to 2022, serving as Senior Advisor to the Chairman and Deputy to the Chairman for Policy.  Previously, he served as Senior Counsel at the United State Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, where he worked from 2013 to 2018.  He received a Bachelor of Science from Duke University, where he studied economics and political science, and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife and two children. 

Jonathan McKernan, Nominee for Member of the Board of Directors, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Jonathan McKernan is a Senior Counsel at the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). He is currently on detail from FHFA to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, where he is a Counsel on the Committee’s Minority Staff. He also previously served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and to Senator Bob Corker (R-TN). Before entering public service, McKernan was a banking lawyer at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP and Hogan Lovells US LLP. McKernan received a Juris Doctor with high honors from the Duke University School of Law and undergraduate and graduate degrees in Economics from the University of Tennessee, where he graduated summa cum laude.

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