President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts 03-31-09

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts: Anne Castle, Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, Department of the Interior; Mathy V. Stanislaus, Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Environmental Protection Agency; Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), Department of Defense; John U. Sepúlveda, Assistant Secretary of Human Resources, Department of Veterans Affairs; Roger Baker, Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs; and William Gunn, General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs.

President Obama said, "These fine public servants will be valuable additions to our team as we confront the many challenges our nation faces. Their talent and dedication will be of great service to the American people, and I look forward to working with them in the coming months and years."

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals today:

Anne Castle joined Holland & Hart LLP as a lawyer in 1981 and became a partner in 1987. She is a practitioner in water rights and water quality law, and has over twenty-five years of experience in water rights practice. She has represented a wide variety of clients in water court litigation, including adjudications of water rights, changes in water rights and plans for augmentation, and appeals. She has also represented clients in numerous water rights and water quality administrative proceedings. Her practice includes water rights conveyancing, contracts for purchase, use, and supply of water, and the evaluation and assessment of water rights. Castle is the former Chair of Holland & Hart’s Management Committee (2002 to 2004) and former Chair of the firm’s Natural Resources Department (1998 to 2001). In 2004, members of the Colorado Bar voted her the top water lawyer in the Denver Business Journal’s Best of the Bar survey. She was a finalist for Outstanding Women in Business–Professional Services awarded by the Denver Business Journal in 2005. Castle was appointed by Governor Bill Ritter to the South Platte River Task Force in 2007. She was designated "Best of the Bar" in Water Law in 2006-2008 and was listed in Best Lawyers in America for water law in 2007, the first year in which water law was a listed category, and again in 2008. Ms. Castle was honored in 2008 by the Women’s Vision Foundation with its Woman of Vision Award and was featured in Law Practice Management magazine (Oct. / Nov. 2008) in its "Leadership Profile."

Mathy Stanislaus has over 20 years of experience in the environmental field, primarily in the areas of brownfields, Superfund and solid waste. He is an environmental lawyer and chemical engineer. Mr. Stanislaus co-founded and currently co-directs New Partners for Community Revitalization, Inc. (NPCR), a unique NY not-for-profit organization whose mission is to advance the renewal of New York's low and moderate income neighborhoods and through the redevelopment of brownfield sites. Mr. Stanislaus has been an advisor to the USEPA, other federal government agencies, Congress and the United Nations on a variety of environmental issues. Mr. Stanislaus served as assistant regional counsel for the United States Environmental Protection Agency in its New York Region II Offices. He was responsible for all aspects of enforcement cases brought under CERCLA (Superfund), and Emergency Planning & Community Right to Know Act. He is a current board member of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, Inc. Mr. Stanislaus was born in Sri Lanka and immigrated to the United States.

Ms. Darcy is currently Senior Environmental Advisor to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, working to develop energy, environmental and conservation initiatives using the tax code. Previously, she served as Senior Policy Advisor, Deputy Staff Director and Professional Staff on the U.S. Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works. Darcy has held a number of other positions, including Executive Director at the Great Lakes and Water Resources Planning Commission in Michigan, Assistant to the Director of Personnel for Gubernatorial Appointments for the Office of the Michigan Governor and Legislative and Policy Analyst in the U.S. House of Representatives Banking Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization. Darcy holds a Master of Science in Resource Development from Michigan State University.

John U. Sepúlveda brings over 25 years of experience as an innovative leader in the public and private sectors. He served as deputy director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), a position for which he was nominated in 1998 by President Clinton and unanimously confirmed by the U. S. Senate. In that office he led various initiatives to promote greater diversity throughout the U.S. government, including the development of Executive Order 13171, enacted in 2000, which called for government-wide strategies to address the persistent under-representation of Latinos within the federal workforce. While at OPM, he served on the White House Interagency Task Force on Asian American and Pacific Islanders, the President’s Council for Y2K Conversion, and the President’s Council on Integrity and
Efficiency. Before joining OPM, Sepúlveda successfully managed a $5 billion portfolio of federally insured hospital mortgages as a director at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He also played a lead role in the restructuring and reengineering of several major programs within the Federal Housing Administration. From 1996-1997, he worked at the White House in the Office of Presidential Personnel. Before coming to Washington, D.C. in 1993, he held various local and state executive and appointed positions in Connecticut. Early in his career, Sepúlveda taught political science at Hunter College and Yale University. A native of New York City, Sepúlveda earned two Master’s degrees from Yale University and a B.A. degree from Hunter College.

Roger Baker is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Dataline, LLC, a mid-sized technology products and services company headquartered in Norfolk, VA. Previously, Baker served as the Chief Information Officer at the Department of Commerce from 1998 to 2001. Prior to joining the federal government in 1998, Baker had an extensive career with software and Internet technology firms, including leading the development of Internet and online banking systems at VISA International. He has also been a senior technology management executive at CACI International and General Dynamics. Baker left the private sector in May of 2008 to volunteer on President Obama’s campaign, serving on the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications policy group. After the President’s election, Baker served on the Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform (TIGR) and the Veterans Agency Review Teams for the Presidential Transition Team. Baker is active in the federal technology community, and has written extensively on improving the management and results of the government’s information technology investments. He was the Vice Chair of the Industry Advisory Council’s Transition Study Group, and a co-author of the group’s capstone paper entitled "Returning Innovation to the Federal Government with Information Technology." He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and a Masters in Business Administration from The University of Michigan.

A recipient of the American Bar Association’s Outstanding Career Military Lawyer Award, Will A. Gunn is an attorney who represents military members and veterans in private practice in Northern Virginia. He retired from the Air Force in 2005, where he served as a Colonel in the Judge Advocate Generals (JAG) Corps. He is also a former White House Fellow. In 2003, Gunn was named the first-ever Chief Defense Counsel in the Department of Defense Office of Military Commissions. Gunn built a defense team and supervised all defense activities for detainees selected for trial before military commissions. His efforts earned respect and admiration for his principled leadership and commitment to ensuring that detainees received effective representation. A native of Fort Lauderdale, FL, Gunn is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and is a Cum Laude graduate of Harvard Law School. While at Harvard, he was elected President of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, the nation’s oldest student run legal services organization. He also has a Masters of Laws degree in Environmental Law from the George Washington University School of Law and a Master of Science degree in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Gunn is active in the civic life of his community. He chairs the American Bar Association’s Commission on Youth at Risk and serves on the board of Christian Service Charities. In 2005 Gunn was named President and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington. He has been featured in The New Yorker magazine and The Wall Street Journal. Gunn has also received many awards and honors including the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau’s Outstanding Alumni Award.