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:

• Jennifer Lynn Homendy, Nominee for Chair and Member of the National Transportation Safety Board
• Kelly Adams-Smith, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Moldova
• Jeremey Neitzke, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Lesotho
• Peter W. Lord, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Senegal and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as the Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea-Bissau

Jennifer Lynn Homendy, Nominee for Chair and Member of the National Transportation Safety Board

Jennifer Lynn Homendy is the 15th Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). She is the fourth woman to serve as Chair since the agency was created in 1967. As Chair, Homendy is the agency’s chief executive, managing an annual budget of $140 million and more than 440 full-time employees across the country. Homendy has also served as the NTSB’s 44th Board Member since 2018. She has presided over numerous public meetings to deliberate and finalize NTSB investigations in all modes of transportation, provided expert testimony at the federal and state levels on a wide range of transportation safety issues, and launched with the NTSB “Go Team” on myriad investigations. She is a staunch advocate for improving safety across all modes of transportation.

From 2004 to 2018, Homendy served as the Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials for the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to that, she held positions with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, American Iron and Steel Institute, and National Federation of Independent Business.

Homendy is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University and is pursuing a Master of Transportation Safety Administration degree at the Institute for Global Road Safety and Security at Clemson University. Homendy is a native of Plainville, Connecticut, and currently resides in Fredericksburg, Virginia, with her husband, their daughter, and two dogs.

Kelly Adams-Smith, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Moldova

Kelly Adams-Smith, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, is currently Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to the European Union. Prior to that, Adams-Smith was the Senior Coordinator for National Security Affairs in the Office of the Vice President. Previously, she served as Chargé d’Affaires, ad interim. and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic. She has also served as Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in London, as Deputy Executive Secretary of the White House National Security Council, and as a faculty member at the National War College. Other overseas assignments include Sofia, Bulgaria; Tallinn, Estonia; and Moscow, Russia. Washington assignments include operations officer at the State Department’s Operations Center.

Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Adams-Smith was a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of Commerce. A New Jersey native, Adams-Smith holds a B.A. from American University and an A.M. from Harvard University. She is the recipient of a Presidential Distinguished Service Award. Her languages include Russian, Bulgarian, Estonian and Czech.

Jeremey Neitzke, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Lesotho

Jeremey Neitzke, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Counselor, is currently Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique. Prior to that, Neitzke served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Lilongwe, Malawi. Other assignments include Management Counselor in both Buenos Aires, Argentina and Bridgetown, Barbados. In Washington, Neitzke served in the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, where he oversaw a wide variety of conflict response efforts. Other overseas assignments include Maputo, Durban, and Panama City. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya.

Son of parents from Illinois and South Dakota, Neitzke holds a B.S. from Truman State University and a Masters in National Resource Strategy from the National Defense University. He speaks Portuguese and Spanish.

Peter W. Lord, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Senegal and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as the Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea-Bissau

Peter W. Lord, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Counselor, currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Africa, Sudan, and South Sudan in the Bureau of African Affairs at the Department of State. He has previously served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Windhoek, Namibia and the U.S. Mission to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as well as the Director of the Office of Southern African Affairs, Deputy Director of the Office of East African Affairs, and Deputy Political Counselor at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Other diplomatic postings include Malawi, Syria, Iraq, and the United Kingdom. A native of Florida, he holds a B.A. in philosophy and French literature from Furman University and a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College. He speaks French and some Arabic.

 

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