Sean Cairncross of Minnesota, to be Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Mr. Cairncross currently serves as a Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff. Before joining the White House, Mr. Cairncross served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Republican National Committee for the 2016 election cycle. Before that, Mr. Cairncross was a partner at a Washington, D.C.-area law firm, and served as general counsel to a policy analytics firm. He has also served as the Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the 2010 and 2012 cycles, and as Chief Counsel to the RNC for the 2008 cycle. Before that, Mr. Cairncross worked as an associate at a large Washington, D.C. law firm. Mr. Cairncross holds a J.D. from NYU School of Law, an M.Phil in international relations from Cambridge University, and a B.A., summa cum laude, from American University. Originally from Minnesota, he currently lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and two children.
Tim Thomas of Kentucky, to be the Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission. Mr. Thomas currently serves on the State staff of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as a field representative based in the Senator’s Bowling Green office. A native Kentuckian, Mr. Thomas previously served in the administration of former Kentucky governor, Ernie Fletcher, in the Kentucky Environmental Cabinet as a special assistant to the Secretary handling matters including legislative initiatives for the agency. While at the cabinet, Mr. Thomas also served as Federal facilities coordinator, overseeing environmental regulation of Federal sites, including Department of Energy and United States Army installations. Mr. Thomas’ last position in State government was as executive director of the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority, an agency tasked with helping finance the expansion of water and wastewater services throughout the State. After leaving State government, Mr. Thomas was employed by Swift & Staley, Inc., a government infrastructure support services contractor based in western Kentucky. He is a graduate of Murray State University and the University of Louisville School of Law.
Kevin Edward Moley of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (International Organizational Affairs). Mr. Moley, a prominent businessman, Federal Government official and former Ambassador, was a private investor in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Williamsburg, Virginia, from 2006-present and 1998-2001. From 2001-2006 he was Representative of the United States to the Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, with the rank of Ambassador. Previously, he was a senior executive in the health care industry and served the Federal Government as Deputy Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services (1992-1993), Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget, Department of Health and Human Services (1989-1992), and in senior positions in the Health Care Financing Administration (1984-1988). He played key leadership roles in the Reagan-Bush, Bush-Quayle, and Bush-Cheney Presidential campaigns. From 1965-1971, Mr. Moley served honorably in the Marine Corps as a Sgt. (E-5), receiving a Purple Heart and a Navy Commendation Medal w/Combat V (Valor). He has served as Chairman of the Board of Project Concern International, a San Diego based NGO (2007-2015), and on Federal Government commissions, such as Vice Chairman of the President’s Council on Management Improvement (1989-1991).
Andrew Gellert of New Jersey, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Chile. Mr. Gellert, President of Gellert Global Group in Elizabeth, New Jersey, is a prominent American businessman. He leads an enterprise consisting of many North American food importing companies, including Atalanta Corporation, the largest privately held food importer in the United States. He has served as Chairman of the Association of Food Industries (AFI), which is part of a coalition of food importing associations pursuing the mutual trade interests of overseas suppliers and United States importers before the FDA, and within the food legislation arena. In addition, he is a member of the Young Presidents Organization and a Board member of the Elizabeth Development Corporation. Mr. Gellert earned a B.S. from Cornell University.
Leandro Rizzuto of Florida, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Barbados, and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary America to St. Kitts and Nevis and to Saint Lucia. Mr. Rizzuto, a prominent businessman, is past Chairman of the Professional Beauty Association (PBA). He has been Director of North American Beauty Events since 2005, the producer of Cosmoprof NA—America’s largest B2B Beauty Show—creator and publisher of “Style Source Magazine.” For over 30 years, he helped build his family’s business, Conair, into one of the largest private companies in the United States, with offices in Asia, Europe, Australia, and Latin America. At Conair, he was Senior Vice President for Professional Global Business Units and had increased sales from $25 million to $300 million and was credited with over 25 United States patents. Mr. Rizzuto attended Arizona State University, where he majored in marketing.
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President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Appoint Personnel to Key Administration Posts
James Lynn Woodworth of Arkansas, to be Commissioner of Education Statistics, Department of Education, for the remainder of a six year term expiring June 21, 2021. Mr. Woodworth joined the Center for Research on Educational Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute in 2012. Prior to his time at CREDO, he performed research, program evaluations, and administered performance pay programs at the Office for Education Policy as part of his duties as a Distinguished Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas. Before his time at the University of Arkansas, Mr. Woodworth spent 11 years as a public school teacher in Arkansas. He earned a B.A., Magna Cum Laude, in music education and a M.Ed. in educational leadership from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Arkansas, and earned his PhD. in education policy at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Mr. Woodworth is a veteran of Marine Corps.
Michelle Giuda of New York, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Public Affairs). Ms. Giuda has been the Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Communications at Weber Shandwick in New York, New York, since 2014. She oversees global communications strategy across 81 countries at Weber Shandwick, a global public relations firms with offices in major media, business, and government capitals around the world. During her tenure, Weber Shandwick became the most awarded public relations firm at the 2016 Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity, the first firm to be named PRWeek’s Global Agency of the Year for three consecutive years, and the only PR agency on Advertising Age’s A-List in 2014 and 2015. Ms. Giuda was named one of the Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business by the Asian American Business Development Center in 2016. Previously, she served as Deputy National Press Secretary to Speaker Newt Gingrich and Communications Director for GOPAC in Washington, D.C. Ms. Giuda graduated, cum laude, with a B.A. from the University of California Los Angeles, where she won an NCAA Championship and captained the UCLA Women’s Gymnastics Team; and she earned an M.P.S. from George Washington University.
