President Biden Announces Nominees

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

• Kali C. Jones, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Benin
• Douglas D. Jones, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Stephanie A. Miley, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of The Gambia
• Melanie Anne Zimmerman, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Guinea
• Keith D. Hanigan, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Solomon Islands
• Julie Brinn Siegel, Nominee to be a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
• Carl Whitney Bentzel, Nominee to be a Commissioner on the Federal Maritime Commission
• Deva A. Kyle, Nominee to be Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
• Deborah Lynn Halvorson Bush, Nominee to be Chair and Member of the Railroad Retirement Board

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 or longstanding practice, to include bipartisan membership.

• L.E. Sola, Nominee to be a Commissioner (Republican) of the Federal Maritime Commission
• Marco M. Rajkovich Jr., Nominee to be a Member (Republican) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
• William Patrick J. Kimmitt, Nominee to be a Member (Republican) of the United States International Trade Commission

Kali C. Jones, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Benin

Kali C. Jones is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Counselor. She currently serves as a Senior Advisor for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Prior to that, she served as the Chief of Staff at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Other assignments include being the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Gaborone, Botswana, the Diplomat in Residence at Tulane University, and the Deputy Director of the State Department’s Executive Secretariat Advance and Staffing Division. Earlier, Jones served as Chief of Staff in the Office of the Counselor, as Deputy Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil and as Deputy Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Port au Prince, Haiti. Jones earned her bachelor’s degree from Howard University, a Juris Doctor degree from Tulane Law School, and a Master of Science Degree from Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She also earned a second Master of Science Degree at the National War College.

Douglas D. Jones, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Bosnia and Herzegovina

Douglas D. Jones, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. He oversees European security, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and Northern Europe, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Nordic and Baltic countries, as well as Arctic security. Most recently, Jones served as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to NATO. He served two other assignments as Deputy Chief of Mission at U.S. Embassies in Zagreb, Croatia and Podgorica, Montenegro. His previous domestic assignments include Director of the Office of Peacekeeping, Sanctions, and Counterterrorism in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Director for NATO and Western Europe at the National Security Council, and as a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations in New York. Overseas he also served as Senior Civilian Representative at the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and at U.S. embassies in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Dublin, Ireland; and Tel Aviv, Israel. Jones holds a Bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College and a Master’s degree in International Relations from Princeton University. He is the recipient of a Presidential Meritorious Rank Award. His foreign languages are Hebrew and Serbo-Croatian.

Stephanie A. Miley, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of The Gambia

Stephanie Miley is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor. She most recently served as Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Previously she was a Senior Advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, U.S. Department of State. Before that, Miley served as Deputy Chief of Mission and, for two and a half years, as Chargé d’Affaires, ad interim of the U.S. Embassy in Rabat, Morocco. Earlier in her career Miley held assignments as the Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy Mexico City, Mexico; as a Senior Advisor in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs in the U.S. Department of State; and as Political Advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, North Atlantic Treaty Organization. She also worked as the Director of Policy and Regional Affairs in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, as Director of Office of Iraq and Afghanistan Affairs at the National Security Council, and as a Provincial Reconstruction Team Leader in Tikrit, Iraq. Miley received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame, an M.A. degree from Stanford University, and an M.S. degree from the National War College, Fort McNair, Washington D.C. She speaks Spanish and French.

Melanie Anne Zimmerman, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Guinea

Melanie Anne Zimmerman, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Counselor, is currently the Minister Counselor for Multilateral, Economic and Political Affairs at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Her previous domestic assignments include Deputy Political Counselor at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York and Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. She also was detailed to the Department of Defense as a Foreign Policy Advisor to Special Operations Command Africa in Germany. Overseas she served as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim and Deputy Chief of Mission in Mauritius and the Seychelles, Consul General in Quebec, Canada, and at U.S. Embassies in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Lomé, Togo; and Yaoundé, Cameroon. Zimmerman holds a B.A. from the University of Maryland, an M.A. from the European Institute for Advanced International Relations in Nice, France, and a Ph.D. from the University of St. Andrews in St. Andrews, Scotland. She is the recipient of the U.S. Department of State’s Political Advisor of the Year award, as well as the U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint Meritorious Civilian Service Award. She was twice knighted with the Legion of Honor (Togo and Burkina Faso) for her work on bilateral political-military affairs. She speaks French and Spanish.

Keith D. Hanigan, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Solomon Islands

Keith D. Hanigan, a career member of the Foreign Service, class of Counselor, currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Directorate of Operations in the Bureau of Administration of the U.S. Department of State. In that capacity he is responsible for the U.S. Department of State’s domestic real property portfolio; allowances for more than 80,000 U.S. government civilian employees working overseas; and support for overseas schools, American employee associations, and general services. Previously he was the Director of the Office of Facilities Management in the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations. Earlier, Hanigan served as Facility Manager at U.S. Embassies in Kabul, Afghanistan; London, United Kingdom; Baghdad, Iraq; Vienna, Austria; Brasilia, Brazil; Managua, Nicaragua; Guatemala City, Guatemala; and San Salvador, El Salvador. Throughout his career, he also has been actively involved in welfare issues that support American families and Locally Engaged Staff at U.S. missions. Before joining the State Department, he lived and worked in the Solomon Islands for almost seven years, as a Peace Corps volunteer, an engineer, and as a local hire at the U.S. Embassy in Honiara, where he developed a deep respect for the Solomon Islands culture and its people. Hanigan earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. He was the 2011 recipient of the David E. Foy Memorial Excellence in Facilities Management Award. He speaks Spanish, Portuguese, and Solomon Islands Pijin.

Julie Brinn Siegel, Nominee to be a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Julie Brinn Siegel is an expert in financial regulation, policy development, and government administration, having held multiple leadership roles across all three branches of government over the past 15 years. She currently serves as the federal government’s deputy chief operating officer as Senior Coordinator for Management at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). In this role, she oversees government-wide implementation of key priority initiatives, financial management, procurement, IT and cybersecurity, performance management, and federal workforce issues.

Before joining OMB, Siegel served as Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen’s Deputy Chief of Staff where she managed policy issues related to domestic finance, national security, and tax policy. Prior to her service at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Siegel led the Biden-Harris Transition Team’s efforts related to economic policy personnel. Siegel previously worked in the U.S. Senate as Senator Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) Senior Counsel for Economic Policy, where she led the Senator’s economic policy, financial markets, banking, consumer protection, tax, and labor teams. 

Prior to working on Capitol Hill, Siegel was Counselor to the General Counsel and Senior Advisor in the Office of the Director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Earlier in her career, Siegel worked for the Office of the White House Counsel, the White House Council of Economic Advisers, OMB, and former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley. She also served as a law clerk for the Honorable Peter J. Messitte of the Federal District Court for the District of Maryland.

Siegel is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and their two children.

Carl Whitney Bentzel, Nominee to be a Commissioner on the Federal Maritime Commission

Carl Whitney Bentzel has served as Commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) since 2019. Prior to his appointment, Bentzel created and established a consulting services company where he represented clients on regulatory and legislative issues within the areas of transportation, energy and other areas of federal regulatory oversight. From 2004-2014, Bentzel served as Vice President and Head of the Federal Advocacy Division of the DCI Group, a public relations firm.

Prior to working in the private sector, Bentzel served the public sector for ten years as a U.S. Senate professional committee staffer including, most recently, as Senior Democratic Counsel of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. He moved to his role in the U.S. Senate after spending four years on the U.S. House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee where he served as Counsel for Maritime Policy. 

Bentzel’s primary areas of responsibility on the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation were issues on maritime transportation; rail, surface and pipeline transportation; energy transportation and hazardous materials; and homeland security in these areas. While working in the Senate, Bentzel served as one of the principals in crafting the Maritime Security Act of 1996, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998, and in 2002, after the attacks on 9/11, the requirements mandated for maritime security through the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002. He also dealt with matters impacting economic regulation of rail and surface industries before the Surface Transportation Board, and a variety of energy related regulatory issues.

During his tenure at the FMC, Bentzel has focused efforts on issues emanating from the global pandemic and the challenges it caused for international shipping and U.S. Supply Chain. Bentzel has led the Commission’s efforts in the potential formation of standards to increase transparency, awareness and accountability for those involved in maritime shipping impacting our nation’s supply chain.

Bentzel earned his Bachelor of Arts from St. Lawrence University, his Juris Doctor from the University of Alabama, and his Master of Laws from the Admiralty Law Institute, Tulane University.

Deva A. Kyle, Nominee to be Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

Deva A. Kyle is an employee benefits expert with over 20 years of experience. Since 2022, she has served as Of Counsel for Cohen, Weiss, and Simon LLP, where she advises retirement plans, trustees, employee organizations, and employers on a wide range of employee benefits matters.

Kyle began her career with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) as an attorney and then as Assistant Chief Counsel in large-exposure litigation and Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases. Later, she served as Staff Director in the Office of Policy and External Affairs and as Acting Deputy Chief of Negotiations and Restructuring where she helped lead PBGC’s single and multiemployer insurance programs.

In 2015, Kyle was detailed to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where, with a team of experts, she crafted the Department’s Multiemployer Pension Reform Act (MPRA) program regulations and processes. Once the program was established, Kyle worked closely with the Special Master to oversee the first team of analysts, actuaries, and attorneys for the Department’s MPRA program, reviewing the most financially and actuarially complex applications to date.

In 2017, Kyle served on detail as Tax Counsel for the Ways and Means Committee, advising the members of the Ways and Means Committee and the Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans regarding retirement policy and law. Kyle has testified before the United States Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and the U.S. Department of Labor Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans and regularly speaks before professional groups and bar associations regarding employee benefits matters.

Kyle received her B.A. in Sociology from Vassar College and her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Deborah Lynn Halvorson Bush, Nominee to be Chair and Member of the Railroad Retirement Board

Deborah Lynn Halvorson Bush spent almost 20 years in elected office serving on the local, state, and federal levels. In 2005, Halvorson Bush became the first woman in Illinois history to serve as the Senate Majority Leader in the Illinois General Assembly. She went on to serve in Congress in Illinois’ 11^th District.

Halvorson Bush recently retired from working with her husband in his two business, American Eagle Steel and American Eagle Logistics, having partnered with him for the past 12 years. During the last 10 years, she also spent time working on several projects related to the supply chain and transportation.

Halvorson Bush earned her B.A. and M.A. from Governors State University. She was born and raised in the south suburbs of Chicago, Illinois where she currently resides with her husband. Together, they have four children and six grandchildren.

L.E. Sola, Nominee to be a Commissioner (Republican) of the Federal Maritime Commission

L.E. Sola has served as a Commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission since being confirmed to the position by the U.S. Senate in January 2019. In his tenure, he has applied his extensive experience in international trade to the work of the Commission in meeting its mandate of ensuring a competitive and reliable supply chain. His leadership on matters related to foreign commerce, sustainability, and mitigating pandemic-related impacts to ports and their employees, have been formally recognized by many entities including Miami-Dade County and the Panama Canal Authority.

Sola has had a distinguished career in both the private and public sectors. He served on the Florida Board of Pilot Commissioners immediately prior to joining the Commission. He was an executive at Camper & Nicholsons International and a licensed international ship broker. He began his business career working as a consultant at Arden & Price authoring studies for the Inter-American Development Bank exploring the future of the Panama Canal upon its return to Panamanian sovereignty. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Florida State University.

Sola began his public service at the age of 18 as an enlisted soldier in the U.S. Army. He spent 12 years in the military working in intelligence, counterintelligence, and counter-narcotics functions, serving in the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (18th Military Intelligence Battalion, Germany) and the U.S. Southern Command (310th Military Intelligence Battalion, Panama).

Sola earned a B.S. in Management from Nova Southeastern University and an M.S. in International Finance from the University of Illinois. He is a twice graduate of the Defense Language Institute, Presidio of Monterey, where he mastered German and Spanish.

Marco M. Rajkovich Jr., Nominee to be a Member (Republican) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission

Marco M. Rajkovich is a Commissioner and former Chair of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. Prior, he was Co-Manager of the Lexington, Kentucky law firm of Rajkovich, Williams, Kilpatrick & True, PLLC which was formed in 2005. From 1987 to 2005, Rajkovich was with the Lexington office of Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP as Partner, Co-Chair of the Mineral & Energy Practice Group, Chair of the Mine Safety Litigation Subgroup and served in various management positions with the law firm. Prior to his law career, he was with U.S. Steel Mining Company, Inc. from 1974 to 1984 serving in various positions in engineering as well as production. He is a licensed professional engineer – mining, a licensed professional land surveyor, and a certified underground mine foreman in Kentucky. Rajkovich is also a permanent deacon of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Virginia as well as the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky. He and his wife, Kathleen, currently reside in Reston, Virginia.

Rajkovich is a 1973 graduate of Lynch High School, 1977 graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Engineering where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering with the Mining Option and was a member of Chi Epsilon Civil Engineering Honorary. He is a 1987 graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law where he was a member of the Journal of Mineral Law & Policy. He also holds a 2016 Master of Arts (Pastoral Theology) from Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology.

Rajkovich was given the 2008 Achievement in Mining Award by the Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers (KSPE), was a six-time recipient of the KSPE President’s Award, named a Kentucky Superlawyer, given the 2011 Honorary Membership in the Kentucky Association of Professional Surveyors, named in Best Lawyers in America as 2014 Lawyer of the Year—Energy Law—Lexington, Kentucky, and was given the 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award, Mining Engineering by the University of Kentucky.

Throughout his career, Rajkovich has authored several articles and contributed to several treatises regarding mining. For many years, Rajkovich was authorized by the Kentucky Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors as an instructor on ethics and minimum technical standards and has given national presentations on ethics for the National Society of Professional Engineers.

William Patrick J. Kimmitt, Nominee to be a Member (Republican) of the United States International Trade Commission

William Patrick J. Kimmitt is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP where his practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, trade and investment advisory matters, and government and internal investigations. Kimmitt has extensive experience litigating cases in federal and state courts throughout the country on a broad array of subject matters, including international trade and trade secret misappropriation. He has also represented clients in Section 337 unfair import investigations before the International Trade Commission. Kimmitt previously served as Counselor to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) where he served as a senior advisor to the Trade Representative on trade policy and legal matters. His work at USTR included significant involvement in the implementation and entry into force of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement as well as engagement with the International Trade Commission on the commencement of numerous investigations and other trade issues. A Virginia native, Kimmitt received his B.A. from Duke University and his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. He and his wife Heather reside in Arlington, Virginia with their four children.

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