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Briefing Room

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
February 03, 2012

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

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

  • Bill Baer – Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, Department of Justice
  • Marcilynn A. Burke – Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, Department of the Interior
  • Joseph Jordan – Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, Office of Management and Budget
  • John Norris – Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
  • Heidi Shyu – Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, Department of Defense

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

  • Milton Irvin – Member, President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
  • George B. Walker, Jr. – Member, President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

President Obama said, “I am proud that such experienced and committed individuals have agreed to serve the American people in these important roles.  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:

Bill Baer, Nominee for Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, Department of Justice
Bill Baer is the chair of the Antitrust Practice Group at Arnold and Porter LLP.  He joined Arnold and Porter in 1980, becoming a partner at the firm in 1983.   In his practice, Mr. Baer represents a broad range of companies in U.S. and international cartel investigations, mergers and acquisition reviews, and in antitrust litigation.   From 1995 to 1999, he served as the Director for the Bureau of Competition at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).  Mr. Baer began his legal career in 1975 as a trial attorney for the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the FTC.  Mr. Baer holds a B.A. from Lawrence University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Marcilynn A. Burke, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, Department of the Interior
Marcilynn A. Burke has served as Acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Department of the Interior (DOI) since July 2011 and as Deputy Director of the Bureau of Land Management since August 2009.   Prior to serving in these positions at DOI, Ms. Burke was a tenured Associate Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law Center where she taught natural resources, land use management, environmental, and property law.  Before she began her teaching career, Ms. Burke was an associate at the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen, & Hamilton.  She earned her A.B. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her J.D. from Yale University.

Joseph Jordan, Nominee for Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, Office of Management and Budget
Joseph Jordan is currently Senior Advisor to Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Jeffrey Zients, a position he has held since December 2011. Between 2009 and 2011, Mr. Jordan served as Associate Administrator for Government Contracting and Business Development at the Small Business Administration (SBA). Prior to joining SBA, Mr. Jordan was an Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm.  At McKinsey, he specialized in developing purchasing and supply management strategies for clients across several industries. He also worked with the firm’s public sector practice, advising state governments on how to cut costs and capture efficiencies.   In 2000, Mr. Jordan helped build and manage operations of Backwire, a web-based publisher-marketer. When the company was purchased by Leap Wireless, he transitioned to become Leap’s project manager for strategic planning and product development. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Jordan worked as an Associate Producer on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews.  Mr. Jordan received his B.A. from The College of the Holy Cross and an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business Administration.

John Norris, Nominee for Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
John Norris is a Commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), a position he has held since December 2009.  Over the past 10 years, Mr. Norris has also been involved in numerous local, regional, and national energy related boards and organizations.  Before his appointment to FERC, he was Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  From 2005 to 2009, Mr. Norris served as Chairman of the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB).   Prior to joining IUB, he served as Chief of Staff and Energy Advisor to Governor Tom Vilsack, Chief of Staff to U.S. Representative Leonard Boswell, and owned and managed a restaurant in Greenfield, Iowa.  Mr. Norris received a B.A. in Political Science from Simpson College and a J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law.

Heidi Shyu, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, Department of Defense
Heidi Shyu has served as Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (ALT) since June 2011, and as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for ALT since November 2010.  Prior to joining the Administration, Ms. Shyu worked for the Raytheon Company from 1997 to 2010.  During that time, she held several leadership positions including Vice President of Technology Strategy for Space and Airborne Systems (2009-2010), Corporate Vice President of Technology and Research (2007-2009), Vice President and Technical Director for Space and Airborne Systems (2004-2007), and Vice President of Unmanned and Reconnaissance Systems (2002-2003).   Prior to working at Raytheon, Ms. Shyu worked for Hughes Aircraft Company (1992-1997), Litton (1990-1991), and Grumman Aerospace (1989-1990).  She began her career in 1978 as an Engineer for Hughes Aircraft Company.  Ms. Shyu holds a B.S. from University of New Brunswick in Canada, an M.S. from the University of Toronto, and an M.S.E.E. from University of California, Los Angeles.

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

Milton Irvin, Appointee for Member, President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Milton Irvin is currently Chair of the Advisory Board for Castle Oak Securities, L.P.  In January 2012, Mr. Irvin retired from UBS AG where he had been a Managing Director and the Americas’ Head of Diversity and Inclusion since 2002.  Before working at UBS, Mr. Irvin served as President and COO of Imbot.com, from 2000 to 2002, and Blaylock & Partners L.P., from 1998 to 1999.  Mr. Irvin began his career as a corporate lending officer at Chase Manhattan Bank, and then spent 20 years at Salomon Brothers, holding numerous positions including Managing Director and Head of Generalist Sales.  Mr. Irvin currently serves on the Wharton Graduate Advisory Board, the Board of the Harlem School of the Arts, and LEAD, a non-profit that unites colleges and universities with corporations to encourage minority high school students to explore careers in business, science, engineering, and technology.  In 1994, President Clinton appointed Mr. Irvin to the Advisory Committee of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation for which he served as chairman from 1995 to 1997.  Mr. Irvin earned his B.S. from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and his M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Reverend George B. Walker, Jr., Appointee for Member, President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
The Reverend George B. Walker, Jr. is the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Victory Institute (“Victory”), a position he has held since October 2011. From 2008 to 2011, Reverend Walker was the Vice President of Leadership Initiatives at Victory.  Before joining Victory, Reverend Walker worked at the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy as the Development Director from 2006 to 2008; the Human Rights Campaign as Major Gifts Officer from 2004 to 2006; and the Center for Community Change, where he was Deputy Operations Director from 2003 to 2004 and Director of Evaluation from 2001 to 2003.  From 1994 to 1996, Reverend Walker worked as a volunteer for the U.S. Peace Corps.  He later served as Associate Director of the Peace Development Fund from 1998 to 2001.  Reverend Walker is the recipient of the U.S. Peace Corps’ Franklin H. Williams Award, the German Marshall Memorial Fellowship, and the Pipeline Project’s 21st Century Leadership Fellowship.  Reverend Walker holds a B.A. from Morehouse College and an M.Div. from the Divinity School at Duke University.