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The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

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

  • Cameron Munter, Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Department of State
  • Pamela Ann White, Ambassador to the Republic of The Gambia, Department of State
  • Sam E. Angel, Commissioner, Mississippi River Commission
  • Marsha Ternus, Member, Board of Directors of the State Justice Institute

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

  • Karen L. Braitmayer, Member, Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Access Board
  • Howard A. Rosenblum,  Member, Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Access Board
  • Demetria Henderson, Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
  • Helen T. McAlpine, Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
  • Alma Johnson Powell, Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
  • E. John Rice, Jr., Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
  • Dianne Boardley Suber, Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities


 
President Obama said, “I am proud to nominate such impressive men and women to these important roles, and I am grateful they have agreed to lend their considerable talents to this administration. I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead.”
 
President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts:
 
Cameron Munter, Nominee for Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Department of State
Cameron Munter is a career member of the Foreign Service, with the rank of Minister.  He most recently served as Ambassador to Serbia. Dr. Munter has served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Iraq, the Czech Republic and Poland. Dr. Munter was the first leader of the first Provincial Reconstruction Team in Iraq in 2006, in Mosul.  In Washington, he was Director for Central Europe at the National Security Council, Executive Assistant to the Counselor at the State Department, and Chief of Staff of the NATO Enlargement Ratification Office.  His previous overseas assignments include Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic.  Dr. Munter received his PhD from the Johns Hopkins University and B.A. from Cornell University. He was also a Rusk Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University.
 
Pamela Ann White, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of The Gambia, Department of State
Pamela Ann White is a member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Career Minister. She has served since 2008 as the USAID Mission Director in Liberia. She also served as Mission Director in Mali and Tanzania. Ms. White has served in a variety of overseas posts as the Executive Officer including Senegal, Haiti, Egypt and South Africa.  Before becoming an Executive Officer, she was the Community Liaison Officer in Burkina Faso. In Washington she was named USAID Chief of Recruitment and Personnel Planning. She also served in the Bureaus of Global Affairs and Africa. She started her foreign service career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon in 1971. Ms. White received her B.A. in journalism from the University of Maine, an M.A. from the School for International Training, and an M.S. from the Industrial College of Armed Forces.
 
Sam E. Angel, Nominee for Commissioner, Mississippi River Commission
Sam E. Angel currently serves as president of Epstein Land Company and Epstein Gin Company, director and former president of the Dumas Cotton Warehouse, and commissioner of the Chicot County Watershed District. He also has served continuously on the Mississippi River Commission since first being appointed in 1979.  He is a former commissioner of the Chicot County Rural Development Authority and the Southeast Arkansas Levee District. He is a director of the Bank of Lake Village and present director and former president and chairman of the board of the Southern Cotton Ginners Association. Mr. Angel is a former delegate and director of the board of the National Cotton Council of America and a former member of the board of the Cotton Warehouse Association of America. Mr. Angel was voted 2004 Man of the Year by the Lake Village Chamber of Commerce, and in 2008 he was presented the Arkansas Heritage Award by the governor of Arkansas. Mr. Angel served with the Army National Guard from 1957 until 1965, and the U.S. Army from 1961 to 1962.
 
Marsha Ternus, Nominee for Member, Board of Directors of the State Justice Institute
Marsha Ternus is currently the Chief Justice for the Iowa Supreme Court. She was appointed to the Court in 2003 and selected as Chief Justice in 2006. Prior to becoming a judge, Chief Justice Ternus was in private practice at the law firm of Bradshaw, Fowler, Proctor & Fairgrave from 1977 to 1993. Chief Justice Ternus serves on the Board of Directors of the Conference of Chief Justices and on the Judicial Conference Committee on Federal State Jurisdiction.  She received a J.D. with Honors, Order of the Coif, from Drake University Law School and a B.A. with high distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Iowa.
 
 
President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key administration posts:
 
Karen L. Braitmayer, Appointee for Member, Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Access Board
Karen L. Braitmayer is a registered Architect and Principal with Studio Pacifica Ltd., an architectural consulting firm focused on Accessible Design and Accessibility Consulting.  A lifelong wheelchair user, she has made accessibility consulting and design services her focus since 1990 and co-founded Studio Pacifica, Ltd. in 1993.  Braitmayer has assisted various state agencies, local governments, school districts, architects, home and building owners with compliance on ADA, FHA and state code compliance for housing, commercial, retail, institutional and educational projects.  As an appointed member of the Washington State Building Code Council from 1994 through 2001, and continuing as a member of Technical Advisory Groups, Braitmayer participates in the development of building codes to ensure that the State Accessibility code reflects the needs of the citizens of Washington. Braitmayer is an International Code Council certified Accessibility Inspector/Plans Examiner.
 
Howard A. Rosenblum, Appointee for Member, Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Access Board
Howard A. Rosenblum is a Senior Attorney at Equip for Equality, a nonprofit organization designated as Illinois’ Protection and Advocacy entity. Having served as an attorney for eighteen years, Mr. Rosenblum’s legal practice focuses on the areas of disability rights and special education. He has been involved in major litigation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and other laws impacting the rights of people with disabilities. Mr. Rosenblum is the co-founder and Chairperson of the Midwest Center on Law and the Deaf, dedicated to ensuring equal access to the legal system for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. He has also served as the Public Policy Chair for the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) since 2006. Mr. Rosenblum received his law degree from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law and his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Arizona.
 
Demetria Henderson, Appointee for Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Demetria Henderson is currently a 2010 Corps Member for Teach for America. She is also a recent graduate of Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU), which is part of the HBCU system.  While at FAMU, Henderson has served as a HBCU Americorps member, helping to mentor incoming college freshman as well as a coach and mentor for teens in the Police Athletic League.  She received her B.A. in Psychology from FAMU in May 2010.
 
Helen T. McAlpine, Appointee for Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Helen McAlpine has been the President of J. F. Drake State Technical College since 2000.  Dr. McAlpine has over 38 years of experience in the field of education.  Her prior positions include Assistant Superintendent of the Huntsville City School System and several positions with the Gadsden City School System.  She has also taught at the secondary and post-secondary levels, including at Jacksonville State University.  She received her B.A. in English from Talladega College, her M.S. from Jacksonville State University, and  her Ed.D. from the University of Alabama.
 
Alma Johnson Powell, Appointee for Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Alma Powell is the Chair of America’s Promise Alliance, which seeks to enhance partnerships to ensure that students are prepared for college and work. She also chairs the advisory board for the Pew Center for Civic Change. From 1989 to 2000, she served as the chairman of the National Council of the Best Friends Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of young girls. She graduated from Fisk University and studied at Emerson College.
 
E. John Rice, Jr., Appointee for Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
John Rice founded Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) in 1994 and has served as its CEO since 2001. MLT is a non-profit that works to develop the next generation of African American, Hispanic, and Native American leaders in major corporations, non-profit organizations, and entrepreneurial ventures. Prior to MLT, Rice was an executive with the National Basketball Association, where he served as managing director of NBA Japan from 1998-2000 and as director of marketing for Latin America from 1996-1998. Before joining the NBA, Rice spent four years (1992-1996) with the Walt Disney Company in new business development and marketing for both the Disney Vacation Club and Disney Consumer Products Latin America. From 1988 to 1990, Rice worked as an account executive with AT&T.  Rice received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his BA with honors in Latin American Studies from Yale.
 
Dianne Boardley Suber, Appointee for Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Dianne Boardley Suber is the 10th President of Saint Augustine's College.  She assumed the presidency of the college in December 1999.  Dr. Suber is an experienced educator and administrator with 35 years of teaching, consulting and administrative experience in preschool and higher education. She has served as a classroom teacher, elementary and middle school principal, university professor and consultant to several national educational organizations.  Dr. Suber received a bachelor of science degree in early childhood education from Hampton University, a master’s of education degree in curriculum development from the University of Illinois--Urbana and a doctorate of education degree in educational administration from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia.