President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 4/5/11

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

• D. Brent Hardt, Ambassador to the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, Department of State
• Donald W. Koran, Ambassador to the Republic of Rwanda, Department of State
• Geeta Pasi, Ambassador to the Republic of Djibouti, Department of State

The President also announced his intent to appoint Michael Les Benedict as a Member of the Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise.  His biography can be found below.  

President Obama said, “I am pleased to announce that these experienced and committed individuals have agreed to join this Administration, and 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:

D. Brent Hardt, Nominee for Ambassador to the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, Department of State

D. Brent Hardt is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and currently serves as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim at the U.S. Embassy to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.   Mr. Hardt previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Nassau, Bahamas and at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See.  Prior to that, he served as Team Leader for NATO Policy in the Office of European Political and Security Affairs in the Department of State and as Political-Economic Section Chief at the U.S. Embassy to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.  Mr. Hardt joined the United States Foreign Service in 1988, and served as a Consular Officer in Barbados, Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, Germany during German unification, and Political-Military Officer at the U.S. Embassy in The Hague, where he also served as an exchange diplomat in the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Mr. Hardt earned a B.A. in History from Yale University, and Master’s and Doctorate degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. 

Donald W. Koran, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of Rwanda, Department of State

Donald W. Koran is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and currently serves as the Director for the Office of Africa Analysis in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the U.S. Department of State.   Since joining the Foreign Service in 1984, Mr. Koran has held numerous assignments at the Department, including Division Chief for Western and Southern Africa in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Deputy Chief of Mission for Niger, and Deputy Chief of Mission for Rwanda.    Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Koran was a Visiting Professor at Tulane University.  He also served as a Staff Economist for the Federal Trade Commission and Director of Research for the National Cable Television Association.  Mr. Koran received his B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and earned a M.A. and PhD in Economics from Johns Hopkins University.

Geeta Pasi, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of Djibouti, Department of State
Geeta Pasi is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and currently serves as the Director of East African Affairs in the Africa Bureau at the Department of State.   Prior to this assignment, Ms. Pasi served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at Embassy Dhaka from 2006-2009.   Other overseas assignments have included: Deputy Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Frankfurt; Political Military Officer at Embassy New Delhi; Political Chief at Embassy Accra; Human Rights & Consular Officer at Embassy Bucharest; and Political & Economic Officer at U.S. Consulate Douala.   In Washington, Ms. Pasi served as Desk Officer for Afghanistan and for Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso.  She also served as a Line Officer in the Executive Secretariat.   Ms. Pasi received her B.A. from Duke University and a M.A. in French Studies from New York University.

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

Michael Les Benedict, Appointee for Member, Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise

Michael Les Benedict is a leading scholar of American constitutional history and the Civil War and Reconstruction.  He is the author ofThe Blessings of Liberty, The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson, and Preserving the Constitution, a selection of essays on the constitutional politics of Reconstruction.  Professor Benedict also wrote the American Historical Association’s American Constitution bicentennial essay “Civil Rights and Liberties.”  He is emeritus professor of history at The Ohio State University, where he was also an adjunct professor of law, and he has held visiting professorships at Yale Law School and on the law faculties of Hokkaido and Doshisha Universities in Japan.  Professor Benedict has served on the board of directors of the American Society for Legal History and is currently Parliamentarian of the American Historical Association.  He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Illinois and his Ph.D. from Rice University.