President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

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

• Thomas Atkin – Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense, Department of Defense
• Daniel P. Feehan –Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness, Department of Defense
• Marguerite Salazar – Member, Board of Directors of the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers
• Peter Michael McKinley – Ambassador to the Federative Republic of Brazil, Department of State  

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

• Sam W. Brown, Jr. – Member, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board
• Larry Mayer – Member, Arctic Research Commission
• Phyliss Craig-Taylor – Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
• Marian Wright Edelman – Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
• Lillian Lowery – Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

President Obama said, “I am confident that these experienced and hardworking individuals will help us tackle the important challenges facing America, and I am grateful for their service.  I look forward to working with them.”

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

Thomas Atkin, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense, Department of Defense  

Thomas Atkin is Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense, a position he has held since 2014.  Mr. Atkin served as Director for Homeland Security Programs at Raytheon from 2013 to 2014.  He retired from the U.S. Coast Guard as a Rear Admiral in 2012 after thirty years of service.  He held various positions in the U.S. Coast Guard, including Assistant Commandant for Intelligence and Criminal Investigations from 2011 to 2012.  Mr. Atkin also served as Acting Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety, Security and Stewardship from 2010 to 2011, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Transborder Security on the National Security Council staff from 2009 to 2010, and Commander of the Deployable Operations Group from 2007 to 2009.  Mr. Atkin received a B.S. from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and an M.S. from the University of Miami.

Daniel P. Feehan, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness, Department of Defense  

Daniel P. Feehan is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness, a position he has held since August 2015.  Mr. Feehan was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness from January to August 2015 and Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense from September to December 2014.  Mr. Feehan served as a White House Fellow in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 2013 to 2014.  Previously, he taught 5th and 6th grade math in Gary, Indiana through Teach for America from 2009 to 2011.  Mr. Feehan served as an officer in the U.S. Army from 2005 to 2009, which included two deployments to Iraq.  He is the recipient of the Bronze Star, the Army Commendation Medal with Valor, the Iraq Campaign Medal, and the Ranger Tab.  Mr. Feehan received a B.S.F.S. from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and an M.P.P. from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Marguerite Salazar, Nominee for Member, Board of Directors of the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers

Marguerite Salazar is the Colorado Insurance Commissioner, a role she has held since 2013.  From 2010 to 2013, Ms. Salazar served as Regional Director of Region VIII for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Ms. Salazar was President and Chief Executive Officer of Valley Wide Health Systems, Inc. from 1989 to 2010.  From 1982 to 1989, she was the Owner of Access Social Work Service.  Ms. Salazar received a B.A. and M.A. from Adams State College.

Ambassador Peter Michael McKinley, Nominee for Ambassador to the Federative Republic of Brazil, Department of State  

Ambassador Peter Michael McKinley, a career member of the Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, is U.S. Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, a position he has held since 2014.  Previously, Ambassador McKinley served as the Deputy Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan from 2013 to 2014, as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Colombia from 2010 to 2013, and as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Peru from 2007 to 2010.  He served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the United States Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium from 2004 to 2007 and as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration from 2001 to 2004.  Ambassador McKinley was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Brussels, Belgium from 2000 to 2001, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kampala, Uganda from 1997 to 2000, and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique from 1994 to 1997.  Since joining the Foreign Service in 1982, Ambassador McKinley has served at posts in Bolivia and the United Kingdom.  He has held positions in the Office of the Under Secretary for Political Affairs, the Office of Southern African Affairs and the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.  Ambassador McKinley received a B.A. from Southampton University and an M.Phil. and D.Phil. from Oxford University. 

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

Sam W. Brown, Jr., Appointee for Member, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board

Sam W. Brown, Jr. is Founder and General Partner at Centennial Partners, Ltd., a position he has held since 1981.  Mr. Brown was the Founding Executive Director of the Fair Labor Association from 1999 to 2002.  He represented the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) as Special Representative of the Chairman in Office in 1998, and as Head of Delegation for the United States to the OSCE from 1994 to 1998.  Mr. Brown was Director of ACTION from 1977 to 1981 and served as State Treasurer of Colorado from 1974 to 1977.  He was a Fellow at Harvard University in the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1969 and a Rockefeller Fellow at the Harvard Divinity School from 1966 to 1968.  Mr. Brown served as a member of the Obama for America National Finance Committee in 2008 and is currently on the Board of Trustees for the Aspen Music Festival and School. He received a B.A. from the University of Redlands and an M.A. from Rutgers University.

Dr. Larry Mayer, Appointee for Member, Arctic Research Commission

Dr. Larry Mayer is a Professor and Director of the School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering at the University of New Hampshire.  He has also served as the Director of the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at the University of New Hampshire since 2000.  Since 2004, he has served as an Adjunct Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.   From 1991 to 1999, Dr. Mayer served as Professor and Chair in Ocean Mapping of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada at the University of New Brunswick. He was an Associate Professor from 1986 to 1991 and an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University from 1981 to 1986.  Dr. Mayer also served as a Visiting Professor Chair at the University of Kiel in West Germany in 1986 and at the University of Paris in 1988 to 1989.   He served as an Assistant Marine Scientist at the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island from 1980 to 1982 and a Post-doctoral Research Associate from 1979 to 1980.  Dr. Mayer is the recipient of the Keen Medal for Marine Geology and currently serves as the Chair of the Ocean Studies Board at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.  Dr. Mayer received a B.S. from the University of Rhode Island and a Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego.

Phyliss Craig-Taylor, Appointee for Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Phyliss Craig-Taylor is Dean of North Carolina Central  School of Law.  Prior to this, she served as an associate dean of academics at North Carolina Central School of Law. Ms. Craig-Taylor served as a faculty member at the University of Tennessee, the University of Florida, North Carolina Central University, as well as a visiting scholar at the University of Warsaw Center for American Law.  She became a member of the Coalition for Racial and Ethnic Justice for the American Bar Association in 2015 and she was appointed by the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court to serve on the North Carolina Commission for the Administration of Law and Justice. Ms. Craig-Taylor is a past Vice President of the North Carolina Bar Association and a past member of  both the Council for the American Bar Association Section of Litigation and the Ethics Advisory Committee of the North Carolina State Bar.  Before entering academia, she spent several years in private practice and served as a law clerk to the Alabama Supreme Court.  Ms. Craig- Taylor received a B.A. and J.D. from the University of Alabama and an L.L.M. from Columbia University.

Marian Wright Edelman, Appointee for Member, President’s Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Marian Wright Edelman is President of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), a position she has held since co-founding CDF in 1973.  From 1971 to 1973, she served as Director of the Center for Law and Education at Harvard University.  From 1968 to 1973, Ms. Edelman worked as a Field Foundation Fellow and Founder of the Washington Research Project of the Southern Center for Public Policy.  In 1968, Ms. Edelman was a Congressional and Federal Agency Liaison for the Poor People’s Campaign.  From 1964 to 1968, Ms. Edelman served as the Director of the Jackson, Mississippi chapter of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.  Earlier in her career, she served as a Staff Attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in New York.  Ms. Edelman received a B.A. from Spelman College and an LL.B. from Yale Law School. 

Dr. Lillian Lowery, Appointee for Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Dr. Lillian Lowery is President and CEO of FutureReady Columbus, a position she has held since September 2015.  Dr. Lowery served as a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans from 2014 to 2015.  From 2012 to 2015, she served as Superintendent of the Maryland State Department of Education.  From 2009 to 2012, Dr. Lowery was Secretary of Education for the State of Delaware and from 2006 and 2009, she was Superintendent of the Christina School District in New Castle County, Delaware.  Dr. Lowery was the Assistant Superintendent of Cluster VII for Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia from 2004 to 2006.  She also served for two years as an Area Administrator for Fort Wayne Community Schools in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Dr. Lowery began her career as a middle school teacher in the North Carolina Public Schools, where she worked from 1978 to 1984.  Dr. Lowery has held leadership positions on the Board of Directors of Boys and Girls Club of America and Stop Child Abuse and Neglect. Dr. Lowery received a B.A. from North Carolina Central University, an M.A. from The University of North Carolina, and an Ed.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.