President Donald J. Trump today announced his intent to nominate the following individuals key positions in his Administration:
Gordon D. Sondland, of Washington, to be Representative of the United States of America to the European Union, with the rank and status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.
Gordon D. Sondland is the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Aspen Lodging Group, LLC, d.b.a. Provenance Hotels, in Portland, Oregon. For almost 15 years Mr. Sondland managed the Aspen Group, an investment fund and he has served on the Advisory Board of U.S. Bancorp for more than a decade. Additionally, Mr. Sondland was the Senior Republican advisor to the Democratic Governor of Oregon. He also served as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Portland Art Museum. Mr. Sondland attended the University of Washington in Seattle, and has maintained an Airline Transport Pilot License since 1978.
Tibor Peter Nagy Jr. of Texas, to be an Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.
Ambassador Tibor Peter Nagy, Jr., a retired career member of the Senior Foreign Service, formerly class of Minister-Counselor, served as an American diplomat from 1978 to2003. Twice a U.S. Ambassador—to Ethiopia from 1999 to2002 and to Guinea from 1996 to 1999—he also served as Deputy Chief of Mission three times—in Nigeria from 1993 to 1995, Cameroon from 1990 to 1993, and Togo from 1987 to 1990. In all, he served eight tours of duty at U.S. Embassies in Africa. Ambassador Nagy served as Vice Provost for International Affairs at Texas Tech University from 2003 to 2017. He currently serves as Ambassador-in-Residence, Institute for Peace and Conflict, and Honors College Adjunct Faculty at Texas Tech University, where he teaches about Africa. Ambassador Nagy was born in Budapest, Hungary, and arrived in the United States as a political refugee in 1957. He received a B.A. from Texas Tech University and a M.S.A. from George Washington University. Ambassador Nagy speaks Hungarian and French, and has received numerous awards from the Department of State.
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President Donald J. Trump today announced his intent to appoint the following individual to a key position in his Administration:
Robert Charles O’Brien of California, to be the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.
Robert C. O’Brien, an attorney, diplomat, and author, is a founding partner of Larson O’Brien LLP. His practice focuses on complex litigation and international arbitration. Mr. O’Brien has extensive government and private sector experience in national security and foreign policy matters. He has served as an arbitrator in over twenty international proceedings and been appointed by the Federal courts to serve as a Special Master in over a dozen complex cases. Mr. O’Brien has been named one of the top 100 lawyers in California and one of the top 500 lawyers in America.
Mr. O’Brien was appointed as a Representative to the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2005, served as Co-Chairman of the Department of State’s Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan from 2007 to 2011 and was appointed to serve as a member of the U.S. Cultural Property Advisory Committee in 2008. He was a senior legal officer with the United Nations Security Council in Geneva, Switzerland from 1996 to 1998. Mr. O’Brien served as a major in the JAG Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve. Mr. O’Brien received a B.A. degree from UCLA and a J.D. degree from Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley School of Law.
