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The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

  • General Keith Alexander, USA (Ret) – Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
  • Annie I. Antón – Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
  • Ajay Banga – Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
  • Steven Chabinsky – Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
  • Patrick Gallagher – Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
  • Peter Lee – Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
  • Herbert Lin – Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
  • Heather Murren – Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
  • Joe Sullivan – Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
  • Maggie Wilderotter – Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity

President Obama said, “I have charged the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity with the critically-important task of identifying the steps that our nation must take to ensure our cybersecurity in an increasingly digital world.  These dedicated individuals bring a wealth of experience and talent to this important role, and I look forward to receiving the Commission's recommendations.”

President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts: 

General Keith Alexander, USA (Ret), Appointee for Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
General Keith Alexander, USA (Ret) is Chairman and CEO of IronNet, a cyber security firm he founded in 2014.  General Alexander served as Director of the National Security Agency from 2005 to 2014 and was the first Commander of U.S. Cyber Command from 2010 to 2014.  Prior to that, General Alexander was Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence at the Department of the Army from 2003 to 2005.  General Alexander joined the U.S. Army in 1974 and served as Commander of U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command from 2001 to 2003, Director of Intelligence for U.S. Central Command from 1998 to 2001, and Deputy Director of Intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997 to 1998.  General Alexander received a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy, an M.B.A. from Boston University, an M.S. from National Defense University, and two M.S. degrees from the Naval Post Graduate School.

Annie I. Antón, Appointee for Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
Annie I. Antón is Professor and Chair of the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, a position she has held since 2012.  Dr. Antón is a member of the Georgia Tech Institute for Information Security and Privacy. She taught at North Carolina State University from 1998 to 2012, serving as Director of the Computer Science Policy and Compliance Initiative and a member of the Cyber Defense Lab from 2011 to 2012, Professor of Computer Science from 2008 to 2012, Associate Professor of Computer Science from 2003 to 2008, and Assistant Professor of Software Engineering from 1998 to 2003.  She has served on a number of advisory boards including as a member of the Department of Homeland Security Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee; the National Science Foundation’s Computer, Information Science & Engineering Advisory Committee; the Future of Privacy Forum Advisory Board; and the National Institute of Standards and Technology Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board.  Dr. Antón received a B.S, M.S., and Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Ajay Banga, Appointee for Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
Ajay Banga is President and CEO of MasterCard, positions he has held since 2010.  Mr. Banga joined MasterCard in 2009 as President and COO.  Prior to joining MasterCard, Mr. Banga held various senior management roles with Citigroup from 1996 to 2009, most recently serving as CEO of Citigroup Asia Pacific.  He was Director for Marketing and Business Development at PepsiCo Restaurants International India from 1994 to 1996 and began his career at Nestlé India, working in sales and management roles from 1981 to 1994.  Mr. Banga has served as a member of the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations since 2015.  He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Dow Chemical Company, the Board of Governors of the American Red Cross, the Council of Foreign Relations, and serves as Chairman of the Financial Services Roundtable and Co-Chair of the American India Foundation.  Mr. Banga received a B.A. from the University of Delhi and an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Steven Chabinsky, Appointee for Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
Steven Chabinsky is General Counsel and Chief Risk Officer for the cybersecurity technology firm CrowdStrike, which he joined 2012.  Mr. Chabinsky has also served as a columnist for Security Magazine since 2013 and as an adjunct faculty member at The George Washington University since 2012.  Mr. Chabinsky worked at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1995 to 2012, where he held positions including Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI's Cyber Division and Chief of the FBI’s Cyber Intelligence Section.  Mr. Chabinsky received a B.A. from Duke University and a J.D. from Duke University Law School.

Patrick Gallagher, Appointee for Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
Patrick Gallagher is Chancellor and CEO of the University of Pittsburgh, a position he has held since 2014.  From 2009 to 2014, he was Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Under Secretary for Standards and Technology at the Department of Commerce.  Dr. Gallagher served concurrently as Acting Deputy Secretary of Commerce from 2013 to 2014.  Prior to that, Dr. Gallagher served as Deputy Director of NIST from 2008 to 2009 and as Director of the NIST Center for Neutron Research from 2004 to 2008.  He first joined NIST in 1993 as a physicist.  Dr. Gallagher received a B.A. from Benedictine College and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.

Peter Lee, Appointee for Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
Peter Lee joined Microsoft Corporation in 2010 and is Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Research.  From 2009 to 2010, Dr. Lee served at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as Director of the Transformational Convergence Technology Office.  Prior to that, Dr. Lee served as Professor and Head of the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University from 2007 to 2009 and Vice Provost for Research from 2006 to 2007.  He served on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University since 1987.  Dr. Lee received a B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Herbert Lin, Appointee for Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
Herbert Lin is a Senior Research Scholar for Cyber Policy and Security at the Center for International Security and Cooperation and a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, both at Stanford University.  He is also Chief Scientist Emeritus at the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board at the National Research Council of the National Academies, where he served from 1990 to 2014 as study director of major projects on public policy and information technology.  Dr. Lin was a Professional Staff Member for the House Armed Services Committee from 1986 to 1990.  Dr. Lin received a B.S. and Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Heather Murren, Appointee for Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
Heather Murren is a private investor and member of the Board of Trustees of the Johns Hopkins University and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.  She served on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission from 2009 to 2011.  Prior to that, Ms. Murren co-founded the Nevada Cancer Institute, where she served as Chairman from 2002 to 2009 and CEO from 2002 to 2006.  Ms. Murren worked in finance from 1988 to 2002, retiring as Managing Director, Global Securities Research and Economics at Merrill Lynch.  Ms. Murren received a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University.

Joe Sullivan, Appointee for Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
Joe Sullivan is Chief Security Officer at Uber, a position he has held since 2015.  Previously, he worked at Facebook as Chief Security Officer from 2010 to 2015 and Associate General Counsel from 2008 to 2010.  Mr. Sullivan was Associate General Counsel at PayPal from 2006 to 2008 and Senior Director of Trust and Safety at eBay Inc. from 2002 to 2006.  Prior to that, he served for eight years at the Department of Justice, most recently as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Computer Hacking and IP Unit of the Northern District of California from 2000 to 2002.  Mr. Sullivan received a B.A. from Providence College and a J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law.

Maggie Wilderotter, Appointee for Member, Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity
Maggie Wilderotter was Chief Executive Officer of Frontier Communications from 2004 to 2015, and then Executive Chairman of the company until April 1, 2016.  She was Senior Vice President of Worldwide Public Sector at Microsoft from 2002 to 2004 and CEO of Wink Communications Inc. from 1997 to 2002.  Earlier in her career, she served as Executive Vice President of National Operations for AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and as Senior Vice President of McCaw Cellular Communications Inc.  Ms. Wilderotter served on the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) from 2010 to 2012 as Vice Chairman and from 2012 to 2014 as Chairman.  She serves on the boards of Costco Wholesale Corporation, DreamWorks Animation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Juno Therapeutics, Inc., and other private and non-profit organizations.  Ms. Wilderotter received a B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross.