President Donald J. Trump today announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key positions in his Administration:
Maria E. Brewer of Indiana to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Sierra Leone. Ms. Brewer, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, has served as an American diplomat since 1996. She is currently the Deputy Director of the Career Development and Assignments Division of the Bureau of Human Resources at the Department of State. She has served at six United States Missions abroad and in senior leadership positions at the Department of State. Ms. Brewer earned a M.S. from the National Defense University Industrial College of the Armed Forces and a B.A. from Valparaiso University. She speaks Spanish.
James Byrne of Virginia to be General Counsel of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Mr. Byrne most recently served as Associate General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer at Lockheed Martin Corporation where he was also the company’s lead cyber and counterintelligence attorney. Prior to joining Lockheed Martin, Mr. Byrne served as the career Senior Executive Service Deputy Special Counsel with the Office of the United States Special Counsel, and both General Counsel and Assistant Inspector General for Investigations with the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. Mr. Byrne has over 20 years of experience in the public sector, including service as a deployed Marine Infantry Officer and a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) international narcotics prosecutor. He volunteered for the past ten years on the Executive Board of Give an Hour, a non-profit organization that has developed national networks of volunteer professionals capable of providing complimentary and confidential mental health services in response to both acute and chronic conditions that arise within our society, beginning with the mental health needs of post-9/11 veterans, servicemembers and their families. Mr. Byrne is a Distinguished Graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he received an engineering degree and ultimately held the top leadership position of Brigade Commander. He earned his J.D. from Stetson University College of Law, St. Petersburg, Florida and started his legal career as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Malcolm J. Howard, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of North Carolina.
Gerald W. Fauth of Virginia to be a Member of the National Mediation Board for the remainder of a three-year term expiring July 1, 2017, and an additional three-year term expiring July 1, 2020. Mr. Fauth has more than 39 years of professional experience in the private sector and Federal Government working on economic, regulatory, public policy, and legislative issues related to transportation. He has been involved in negotiating, mediating, arbitrating, facilitating, supporting via expert testimony, or deciding the resolution of hundreds of transportation problems and disputes during his career. Mr. Fauth has worked at the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, where he served for more than three years as Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to a Board Member. Today he is President of G.W. Fauth & Associates, Inc., a transportation economic consulting firm based in Alexandria, Virginia. Mr. Fauth holds a Bachelor’s degree from Hampden-Sydney College.
Jamie McCourt of California to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Belgium. Ms. McCourt, a prominent entrepreneur and attorney, has founded and directed leading entrepreneurial enterprises in Los Angeles and Boston, most recently Jamie M, LLC. She was co-owner and former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles Dodgers. She also served as an Adjunct Professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Ms. McCourt earned a B.S. from Georgetown University, a J.D. from University of Maryland School of Law, and a M.S. from MIT/Sloan School of Management. She speaks French.
Robert Wood Johnson IV to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Mr. Johnson has served for more than thirty years as the Chairman and CEO of The Johnson Company, New York, NY, a private asset management firm. Since 2000, he has also been Chairman and CEO of the New York Jets and the Chairman and CEO of the New York Jets Foundation. Mr. Johnson is the Founding Chairman of Lupus Research Alliance, the largest non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention, treatment, and cure of lupus. He has served on the President’s Export Council and the President’s Commission on White House Fellows. Mr. Johnson earned a B.A from the University of Arizona.
Michael Rigas of Massachusetts to be Deputy Director of the Office of Personnel Management. Mr. Rigas has over 20 years of professional experience in the private, public, and non-profit sectors, with a record of improving organizational performance and streamlining operations. He currently serves as Chief of Staff at the Massachusetts Department of Veterans’ Services. Prior to his current role, Mr. Rigas worked at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., where he worked to advance free-market and limited government public policy solutions. Previously, he served as an appointee in the General Services Administration (GSA) where he worked to increase Federal Government contracting with woman-owned, veteran-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and improved GSA’s scorecard from “red” to “green.” Mr. Rigas spent more than a decade in the private sector, including at Mellon Financial Corporation and Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. He holds an M.A. in public administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a B.A. and M.A. in economics from Boston University.
