President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

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

• Richard Howorth, Member, Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority
• Lisa Monaco, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Department of Justice
• Myrna Pérez, Commissioner, Election Assistance Commission

President Obama said, “I am proud to nominate such impressive individuals 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:

Richard Howorth, Nominee for Member, Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority
Richard Howorth is the owner of Square Books, a leading independent bookstore in Oxford, Mississippi, which he founded in 1979. Mr. Howorth served two terms as the Mayor of Oxford, Mississippi, from 2001 to 2009, during which time he was chairman of the authority overseeing the Oxford Electric Department.  He also served eight years as a director and officer of the North Mississippi Industrial Development Association, an economic development consortium made up of power association directors and mayors of cities in 29 Mississippi counties in the Tennessee Valley Authority service area. He is a former president and chairman of the board of the American Booksellers Association, the nation's trade association of bookstores established in 1900. Mr. Howorth holds a B.A. from the University of Mississippi.

Lisa Monaco, Nominee for Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Department of Justice
Lisa Monaco is currently the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice, where she serves as the Deputy Attorney General’s primary advisor on a broad range of criminal, national security, and civil matters.  Ms. Monaco also assists the Deputy Attorney General in the agency’s overall management.  Prior to that, she was Chief of Staff to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Robert S. Mueller, III.  Ms. Monaco initially joined the FBI on detail from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and also worked as Special Counsel to Director Mueller.  From 2001 to 2007, she was an Assistant U.S. Attorney; during this time she served as a prosecutor on the Enron Task Force.  Due to her contributions on the Task Force, Ms. Monaco received the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service.  From 1998 to 2001, she also served as Counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno.  Ms. Monaco clerked for Judge Jane R. Roth of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  She holds a B.A. from Harvard University and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.

Myrna Pérez, Nominee for Commissioner, Election Assistance Commission
Myrna Pérez is currently Senior Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, where she has worked and published on a variety of voting rights issues.  Previously, Ms. Pérez was the Civil Rights Fellow at Relman, Dane, and Colfax, a civil rights law firm in Washington, DC, and served as a policy analyst at the United States Government Accountability Office.  She currently is Chair of the Election Law Committee of the City of New York Bar Association.  Ms. Pérez is the recipient of several awards, including the Puerto Rican Bar Association Award for Excellence in Academia and the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Excellence in Public Service.  She clerked for Judge Anita B. Brody of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and for Judge Julio M. Fuentes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  Ms. Pérez holds a B.A. from Yale College, an M.P.P. from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.