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:

• Harry Coker, Jr., Nominee for National Cyber Director
• Derek Chollet, Nominee for Under Secretary of Defense for Policy at the Department of Defense
• Jon M. Holladay, Nominee for Chief Financial Officer at the Department of Agriculture
• J. Todd Inman, Nominee for Member of the National Transportation Safety Board
• Stephan A. Lang, Nominee for U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, with the rank of Ambassador
• Joann M. Lockard, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Burkina Faso
• Rion J. Ramirez, Nominee for Member of the Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation

Harry Coker, Jr., Nominee for National Cyber Director

Harry Coker, Jr. is a senior national security leader with more than four decades of public service, including in leadership positions in the U.S. Navy, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and National Security Agency (NSA). From 2017 to 2019, Coker served as the Executive Director of the NSA, where he helped lead and manage the largest component of the U.S. Intelligence Community, and prior to that, as the Director of Open Source Enterprise in the CIA’s Directorate of Digital Innovation. He presently serves as a Senior Fellow at Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security and as an outside advisor for private cyber and technology companies.

Born and raised in Parsons, Kansas, Coker began his distinguished career in public service at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and went on to serve for 20 years in the U.S. Navy in various positions, including as a surface warfare officer at sea, an engineering duty officer, and in the Intelligence Community. He is also a graduate of the Naval Postgraduate School and Georgetown University Law Center. Following his government service, Coker has served on the boards of numerous non-profit organizations, including the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation, the U.S. Navy Memorial, Dog Tag, Inc., the Editorial Board of Studies in Intelligence, and the Historic Ships in Baltimore, a maritime museum in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Coker has earned numerous awards and decorations, including the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the Presidential Rank Award, the NSA Director’s Distinguished Service Medal, the U.S. Intelligence Community’s Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity Outstanding Leadership Award, and the CIA’s Don Cryer Award for Diversity & Inclusion.

Derek Chollet, Nominee for Under Secretary of Defense for Policy at the Department of Defense
Derek Chollet has served as the Counselor of the U.S. Department of State since January 2021. Chollet has previously held positions at the State Department, White House, and the Department of Defense, including as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Strategic Planning on the National Security Council staff, and Principal Deputy Director of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff. During the Clinton Administration, Chollet served as Chief Speechwriter for UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and as Special Adviser to Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott. 
 
Outside of government, Chollet has held a variety of positions at leading research institutions. From 2016 to 2020, he served as Executive Vice President at The German Marshall Fund of the United States. He has also been a fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House, the Center for a New American Security, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Brookings Institution, and the American Academy in Berlin. Earlier in his career, Chollet assisted former Secretaries of State James A. Baker III and Warren Christopher, as well as Holbrooke and Talbott, with the research and writing of their memoirs.
 
He is the author, coauthor, or coeditor of eight books on U.S. foreign policy, and is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the U.S. Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service and the U.S. Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. A graduate of Cornell, Chollet was raised in Lincoln, Nebraska.
 
Jon M. Holladay, Nominee for Chief Financial Officer at the Department of Agriculture
Jon M. Holladay has served as a Specialist Leader at Deloitte Consulting since 2017, where he provides financial management expertise to clients within both the civilian and defense sectors. Holladay crafts and deploys strategies and tactics to solve complex problems for clients by simplifying financial management systems landscapes, enhancing funding and governance processes, and improving systems compliance with regulatory requirements. Prior to joining Deloitte, Holladay served as the Chief Financial Officer for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) during the Obama-Biden Administration. In this role, he provided oversight to 16 agencies, 12 staff offices, and two wholly owned government corporations to account for approximately $150 billion of budget authority and expenses for one of the largest civilian agencies in the federal government. While leading the financial management efforts for USDA, he also led the Department’s shared service operation, Payroll and Human Resource Services Center of Excellence. During Holladay’s remaining 23 years at USDA, he worked in numerous capacities within the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. These roles included Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Associate Chief Financial Officer for Financial Policy and Planning, Program Manager, as well as Staff Accountant. Through these roles, Holladay was a key player in improving the Department’s financial systems and processes, implementing major legislation, standing up the Department’s improper payment program, and establishing the Department’s modern day internal control program. In 2008 he was awarded the Meritorious Executive Rank Award. In 2010, he was awarded by then President Obama the Distinguished Rank Award for his sustained leadership accomplishments. Holladay received his B.S. in Accounting from George Mason University School of Business.
 
J. Todd Inman, Nominee for Member of the National Transportation Safety Board
J. Todd Inman is a transportation expert with a unique combination of federal, state, and private sector leadership experience. Inman served at the U.S. Department of Transportation beginning as the Director of Operations followed by Deputy Chief of Staff, and over 2 years as the Chief of Staff in the Office of the Secretary. He has managed all modes of transportation, including aviation, rail, roadways, maritime, hazards pipelines, and private space, with a consistent focus on individual and collective public-safety impacts. Inman directly managed the emergency response and intelligence division through numerous man-made and human-driven incidents including the Boeing 737 Max grounding and ungrounding. Following his federal experience, he served as Secretary of the Department of Management Services for the state of Florida, leading over 1,000 employees and a $1 billion budget, where he also was responsible for logistics and communications under the National Response Framework. Inman currently serves as a Senior Director at APCO Worldwide, providing guidance on a variety of state and federal issues focusing on crisis management and supply chain management. Earlier in his career, he gained subject matter expertise in the field of Cause and Origin Investigations involving Fire and Explosions, being certified in state and federal courts as an expert. He was also an instructor for the National Fire Academy regional delivery program of arson detection for first responders. Inman received his B.A. from the University of Mississippi. He is a native of Kentucky and currently lives in Arlington, Virginia with his wife, Ann.
 
Stephan A. Lang, Nominee for U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, with the rank of Ambassador
Stephan A. Lang, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Information and Communications Policy. Prior to that, he served as Minister-Counselor for Economic and Scientific Affairs at U.S. Embassy Tokyo. In the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs’ Office of International Communication and Information Policy, he served as Director of both the Office of Multilateral Affairs and the Office of Bilateral and Regional Affairs. He has also served as Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Deputy Director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs at the Department of State, as well as a Senior Analyst in the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office of Japan, Korea, and APEC Affairs. Earlier assignments include the U.S. Consulate-General in Guangzhou, China; the American Institute in Taiwan in Taipei; the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs; the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok; and the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba. Before joining the State Department, Lang worked as an economist for the Department of Labor. He is a graduate of Georgetown University, and he speaks Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese.
 
Joann M. Lockard, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Burkina Faso
Joann M. Lockard, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Counselor, currently serves as the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Prior to that, Lockard served as Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic, and the U.S. Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands. Lockard also had assignments as the Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassies in Kampala, Uganda and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Earlier, she was the Nordic – Baltic Public Diplomacy Desk Officer for the State Department in Washington, D.C.; served as Vice Consul and Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador, El Salvador; and worked as a Vice Consul and Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy Almaty, Kazakhstan. Lockard holds a B.A. in International Affairs from George Washington University and her M.S. in National Security Strategy from the National War College in Washington D.C. Her foreign languages include French, Czech, Dutch, Spanish, and Russian.
 
Rion J. Ramirez, Nominee for Member of the Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation
Rion J. Ramirez serves as the CEO of Port Madison Enterprises, the economic development arm of the Suquamish Tribe. Ramirez previously served as the General Counsel to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. In that role, he provided legal advice and services to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Governments, its offices, departments, and its various enterprises, including Foxwoods Resort Casino. Ramirez also serves as the current Co-Chair of the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) Credentials Committee, is a member of its Executive Committee and National Finance Committee, and is a former Chair of the DNC’s Native American Caucus. Ramirez co-chaired the Native American Policy Working Group for Hillary for America. He was appointed in 2013 by President Barack Obama, and served until May 2017 as a Commissioner on the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. Ramirez was also a member of the Obama for American National Finance Committee and Co-Chair of the Obama Native Outreach Group. Ramirez received his B.A. from the University of Washington, his J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law, and is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Band of Indians.

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