President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

Franklin R. Parker, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Department of Defense

Franklin R. Parker is currently Chief Counsel of the Maritime Administration in the Department of Transportation, a position he has held since 2012.  From 2009 to 2012, Mr. Parker served as Attorney Advisor in the Office of the General Counsel of the Navy, Department of Defense.  From 2005 to 2009, Mr. Parker worked as an Associate at Winston & Strawn LLP.  In 2004, Mr. Parker worked as a member of the Policy and Research staff for Obama for Illinois.  He began his career as an Associate at Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro LLP and Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP.  Mr. Parker received a B.A. from Yale University, a J.D. from Stanford Law School, and an M.P.P. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

 

Atul Keshap, Nominee for Ambassador to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Republic of Maldives

Atul Keshap, a career member of the Foreign Service, class of Counselor, currently serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs at the Department of State, a position he has held since 2013.  Previously, he served at the Department of State as a U.S. Senior Official for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2012 to 2013.  From 2010 to 2012, he was the Director for India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Maldives in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.  Prior to that, Mr. Keshap was Director for United Nations Human Rights in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs from 2008 to 2010 and Deputy Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India from 2005 to 2008.  He served as Director for Near Eastern and North African Affairs in the National Security Council from 2003 to 2004 and as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs from 2002 to 2003.  Mr. Keshap’s earlier assignments with the Department of State included postings in Morocco and Guinea.  Mr. Keshap received a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Virginia.

 

Julieta Valls Noyes, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of Croatia, Department of State

Julieta Valls Noyes, a career member of the Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, is Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the Department of State, a position she has held since 2013.  Previously, Ms. Noyes served as Deputy Executive Secretary at the Department from 2011 to 2013 and as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See from 2008 to 2011.  She also was Deputy Director of the Department’s Operations Center from 2007 to 2008 and Director of the Office of Multilateral and Global Affairs in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor from 2005 to 2007.  Prior to that, Ms. Noyes served as Deputy Director in the Office of Policy Planning and Coordination in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs from 2002 to 2004.  After joining the Foreign Service in 1985, her early assignments included posts in Panama, Spain, Mexico, and Guatemala.  Ms. Noyes received a B.A. from Wellesley College and an M.S. from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

 

Alaina B. Teplitz, Nominee for Ambassador to the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, Department of State

Alaina B. Teplitz, a career member of the Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as the Director of the Office of Management Policy, Rightsizing, and Innovation at the Department of State, a position she has held since 2012.  Previously, Ms. Teplitz served as the Management Minister Counselor at the U.S. Mission in Kabul, Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012, Deputy Executive Director in the Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs from 2009 to 2011, and Director of Management Tradecraft Training at the Department’s Foreign Service Institute from 2007 to 2009.  Prior to that, she was the Deputy Director of Joint Administrative Services at the U.S. Embassy in Brussels, Belgium from 2004 to 2007, Management Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 2002 to 2004, and Program Analyst at the Center for Administrative Innovation at the Department from 2001 to 2002.  After joining the Foreign Service in 1991, she served in the State Department’s Bureau of Administration, as well as in posts in Australia, Albania, and Mongolia.  Ms. Teplitz received a B.A. from Georgetown University.