President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

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

• Thomas Kotarac – Member and Chairman, Railroad Retirement Board
• Valerie Martinez – Member, National Council on the Arts

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

• Paul Ohm – Member, Commission on Evidence-Based Policy Making  
• Allison B. Orris – Member, Commission on Evidence-Based Policy Making  
• Lisa Pugh – Member, President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities
• Trevor W. Morrison – Member, Public Interest Declassification Board, and upon appointment designated Chairperson
• James E. Baker – Member, Public Interest Declassification Board

President Obama said, “I am pleased to announce that these experienced and committed individuals have decided to serve our country.  I look forward to working with them.”

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

Thomas Kotarac, Nominee for Member and Chairman, Railroad Retirement Board
Thomas Kotarac is currently the Deputy Executive Director for Policy and Programming for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, a position he has held since 2015.  Previously, he served as Senior Policy Advisor from 2012 to 2015 and Projects Director from 2007 to 2012 in the Office of Senator Dick Durbin.  Mr. Kotarac was a  Senior Legislative Assistant in the Office of Representative Luis V. Gutierrez from 2004 to 2007, and also served as a Legislative Correspondent and Legislative Assistant from 2002 to 2003.  He received a B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Valerie Martinez, Nominee for Member, National Council on the Arts
Valerie Martinez is a poet, educator, and collaborative artist.  She is the Founder and Director of Artful Life, positions she has held since 2015.  She was the Director and a Core Artist at Littleglobe, Inc. from 2009 to 2015.  Her book-length poem, Each and Her, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN Open Book Award, and was an honorable mention in the 2011 International Latino Book Awards.  Ms. Martinez was Poet Laureate for the City of Santa Fe, New Mexico from 2008 to 2010.  She has taught poetry and literature as a university and college professor at various schools, including the University of Arizona, College of Santa Fe, Ursinus College, and the University of Miami.  Ms. Martinez received a B.A. from Vassar College and an M.F.A. from the University of Arizona. 

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

Paul Ohm, Appointee for Member, Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking
Paul Ohm is a Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown) and a Faculty Director for the Center on Privacy and Technology, positions he has held since 2015. Mr. Ohm began his academic career in 2006 on the faculty of the University of Colorado Law School, where he served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Faculty Director for the Silicon Flatirons Center until 2015.  From 2012 to 2013, Mr. Ohm served as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Federal Trade Commission.  Before becoming a professor, he served as a Trial Attorney in the United States Department of Justice's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section from 2001 to 2005.  Mr. Ohm clerked for Judge Betty Fletcher of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2000 to 2001 and for Judge Mariana Pfaelzer of the United States District Court for the Central District of California from 1999 to 2000.  Before attending law school, Mr. Ohm worked for several years as a computer programmer and network systems administrator.  He received a B.A. and a B.S. from Yale University and a J.D. from University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.

Allison B. Orris, Appointee for Member, Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking
Allison B. Orris is the Associate Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget, a position she has held since 2014. From 2009 to 2014, Ms. Orris served in a number of roles at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including Senior Policy Advisor within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from 2012 to 2014, Acting Director of the Division of State Demonstrations and Waivers in CMS in 2012, and Director of the Low Income Programs Analysis Group in the CMS Office of Legislation from 2009 to 2012.  Before joining CMS, Ms. Orris was a Senior Legislative Associate at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities from 2006 to 2009.  From 2002 to 2006, she practiced law at Powell Goldstein LLP in Washington, D.C.  Ms. Orris received a B.A. in History from Columbia University and a J.D. from Yale University.

Lisa Pugh, Appointee for Member, President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities
Lisa Pugh is Public Policy Director at Disability Rights Wisconsin, a position she has held since 2010.  Previously, Ms. Pugh was a State Policy Analyst at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, a Disability Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Education, and a Legislative Fellow on the Committee on Education and Labor in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2009 to 2010.  She currently serves on the U.S. Department of Labor Advisory Committee on Increasing Employment for Individuals with Disabilities, and was a founding member of the Madison Partners for Inclusive Education.  Ms. Pugh was first appointed as a member of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities in 2014 and was a Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation Public Policy Fellow in 2009.  Ms. Pugh received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin. 

Trevor W. Morrison, Appointee for Member Public Interest Declassification Board, and upon appointment designated Chairperson
Trevor W. Morrison is Dean and the Eric M. and Laurie B. Roth Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, where he has worked since 2013.  Mr. Morrison was a professor at Columbia Law School from 2008 to 2013 and a professor at Cornell Law School from 2003 to 2008.  He served as Associate Counsel to the President in the White House Counsel’s Office in 2009.  Mr. Morrison worked at the U.S. Department of Justice as an Attorney Advisor in the Office of Legal Counsel and as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General from 1999 to 2001.  He served as a law clerk to Judge Betty B. Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1998 to 1999 and to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg from 2002 to 2003.  Mr. Morrison serves on the Advisory Committee on International Law at the U.S. Department of State.  He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  Mr. Morrison received a B.A. from the University of British Columbia and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.

James E. Baker, Appointee for Member, Public Interest Declassification Board
James E. Baker is a Visiting Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, a position he has held since 2015.  Mr. Baker served as Chief Judge from 2011 to 2015 and Associate Judge from 2000 to 2011 on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.  He served as Special Assistant to the President and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council (NSC) from 1997 to 2000 and Deputy Legal Adviser to the NSC from 1994 to 1997.  In 1993, Mr. Baker served as Counsel to the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and Intelligence Oversight Board.  He was an Attorney Adviser at the Department of State from 1990 to 1993.  Mr. Baker served in the Marine Corps as an Infantry Officer from 1982 to 1985 and in the Marine Corps Reserve from 1979 to 2000.  Mr. Baker serves as Chair of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Law and National Security.  He received a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.