President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

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

• Jonathan D. Farrar, Ambassador to the Republic of Nicaragua, Department of State
• Stuart E. Jones, Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Department of State
• Lisa Kubiske, Ambassador to the Republic of Honduras, Department of State
• Derek Mitchell, Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma, with the rank of Ambassador, Department of State
• Robert J. Zimmer, Member, National Science Board, National Science Foundation

President Obama said, “These dedicated individuals bring a wealth of experience and talent to their new roles and I am proud to have them serve in this Administration.  I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come.”

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

Jonathan D. Farrar, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of Nicaragua, Department of State
Jonathan D. Farrar is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service.  He has served since 2008 as Chief of Mission of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba. Prior to this assignment, Mr. Farrar served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor from 2005-2008. Previous assignments in Washington have included:  Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs; Executive Assistant in the Office of the Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs; Deputy Director in the Office of Andean Affairs for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs; Special Assistant in the Office of the Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs; Desk Officer for Argentina in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, and Financial Economist in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.  Overseas assignments have included Political/Economic Officer and Deputy Chief of Mission at Embassy Montevideo; Economic/Commercial Officer at Embassy Asuncion; and Economic/Commercial Officer at Embassy Belize City. Mr. Farrar is a graduate of California State Polytechnic University Pomona and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

Stuart E. Jones, Nominee for Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Department of State
Stuart E. Jones is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and currently serves as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Prior to this post, Mr. Jones served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. Mr. Jones has held numerous positions both domestically and abroad since joining the U.S. Foreign Service in 1987.   In Washington, Mr. Jones served as Director for Iraq at the National Security Council, Deputy Director for European Regional Military Affairs, Desk Officer for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and Executive Assistant to the U.S. Permanent Representative at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York. Overseas assignments have included: Governorate Coordinator in Al Anbar Iraq; Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara; Principal Officer at Consulate Adana; Legal Advisor and Commercial Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador; and Vice Consul at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota. Mr. Jones received a B.A. from Duke University and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Lisa Kubiske, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of Honduras, Department of State
Lisa Kubiske is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and currently serves as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia. Prior to this assignment, Ms. Kubiske served as the Director of the Office of Regional Economic Policy and Summit Coordination in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere.  Since joining the Foreign Service in 1983, Ms. Kubiske has held numerous positions both in Washington and abroad.  Other overseas assignments have included Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo; Director for the Office of Economic and Political Affairs at the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong; Economics Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai; and Science/Technology Officer and Consular Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.  In Washington, Ms. Kubiske’s assignments have included Special Assistant to the Undersecretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs; Financial Economist in the Office of Monetary Affairs; Economic/Commercial Officer in the Office of China and Mongolia Affairs; Staff Officer and Operations Watch Officer in the Office of the Executive Secretariat. Ms. Kubiske has also served at Office of the US Trade Representative and at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. Ms. Kubiske earned a B.A. from Brandeis University and an M.S.F.S. from Georgetown University.

Derek Mitchell, Nominee for Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma, with the rank of Ambassador, Department of State
Derek Mitchell is currently Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs at the Department of Defense (DOD). Until April 2009, Mr. Mitchell served as senior fellow and director for Asia in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), having joined the Center in January 2001. Beginning in January 2008, he concurrently served as director of CSIS’s Southeast Asia Initiative. Mr. Mitchell was special assistant for Asian and Pacific affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1997 to 2001, when he received the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Exceptional Public Service.  He was the principal author of the Department of Defense 1998 East Asia Strategy Report. Prior to joining DOD, Mr. Mitchell served as senior program officer for Asia and the former Soviet Union at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Washington, D.C.  In 1989, Mr. Mitchell worked as an editor and reporter at the China Post (Taiwan). From 1986 to 1988, Mr. Mitchell served as assistant to the senior foreign policy adviser to Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Mr. Mitchell received an M.A. in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1991, and a B.A. from the University of Virginia in 1986.

Robert J. Zimmer, Nominee for Member, National Science Board, National Science Foundation
Robert J. Zimmer became President of the University of Chicago in 2006.  Prior to his appointment as President, he served more than two decades as a faculty member in the mathematics department and administrator at the University.  As President of the University, Mr. Zimmer chairs the governing boards of both Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.  He also was the Provost at Brown University from 2002 to 2006.  Additionally, he serves on the executive committee of the Council on Competitiveness and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  He served on the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science until 2010.  A specialist in the mathematical fields of geometry—particularly ergodic theory, Lie groups, and differential geometry—Mr. Zimmer is the author of two books and more than 80 mathematical research articles.  He received his A.B. from Brandeis University in 1968 and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard University in 1975.