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:

• Frederick “Rick” Barton – Assistant Secretary for Conflict and Stabilization Operations and Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, Department of State
• Arun Majumdar – Under Secretary of Energy, Department of Energy
• Marie F. Smith – Member, Social Security Advisory Board

The President also announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key administration posts:

• Barbara K. Rimer – Chairman, President’s Cancer Panel
• Owen N. Witte – Member, President’s Cancer Panel

President Obama said, “These men and women have demonstrated knowledge and dedication throughout their careers.  I am grateful they have chosen to take on these important roles, and 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:

Frederick "Rick" Barton, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Conflict and Stabilization Operations and Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, Department of State
Frederick “Rick” Barton currently serves as a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State.   From December 2009 to October 2011, he served as the U.S. Representative to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations in New York with the rank of Ambassador.  Prior to this role, Mr. Barton was a Senior Adviser and Co-Director of the Post Conflict Reconstruction Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  He was also Co-Chair of a working group on Stabilization and Reconstruction at the United States Institute of Peace, Co-Chair of the Princeton Project on National Security’s Working Group on Reconstruction and Development and an expert adviser to the Iraq Study Group and the Task Force on the United Nations.  From 1999 to 2001, he served as the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva.  Mr. Barton was the founding Director of the Office of Transition Initiatives at the U.S. Agency for International Development, serving from 1994 to 1999.  Prior to this, Mr. Barton was President of Barton & Gingold, a strategy and public relations firm in Portland, Maine from 1983 to 1994.  He served as New England Director of Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1978 to 1981.  A graduate of Harvard College, Mr. Barton earned a Master’s in Business Administration from Boston University, with an emphasis on Public Management.

Dr. Arun Majumdar, Nominee for Under Secretary of Energy, Department of Energy
Dr. Arun Majumdar has served as the Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) since 2009. Previously, he was Associate Laboratory Director for Energy and Environment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. His research career has focused on the science and engineering of energy conversion, transport, and storage, ranging from the molecular and nanoscale level to large energy systems. He has served on the advisory committee of the National Science Foundation's engineering directorate and the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Dr. Majumdar was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2005. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 1985 and his Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of California, Berkeley.

Marie F. Smith, Nominee for Member, Social Security Advisory Board
Marie F. Smith was the President and Spokeswoman for the AARP, formerly the American Association for Retired Persons, between 2004 and 2006. She was elected and served as President-elect of the AARP in 2002 until 2004, and previously served as Treasurer of the AARP Foundation Board of Directors, Chair of the AARP National Legislative Council, and a Spokesperson for the AARP’s Women’s Initiative Program. Before her time at the AARP, Ms. Smith spent twenty-five years with the Social Security Administration (SSA), holding several senior positions there, including Director of Manpower Management. She began at the SSA as a claims representative. Ms. Smith earned a B.S. from Fisk University.

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

Dr. Barbara K. Rimer, Appointee for Chairman, President’s Cancer Panel
Dr. Barbara K. Rimer is the Dean and Alumni Distinguished Professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, positions she has held since 2005 and 2003, respectively.  She is also a member of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at UNC.  From 1997 to 2002, Dr. Rimer served as Director of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the National Cancer Institute.  Previously, she held leadership positions at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC and the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA.  Dr. Rimer has served on a number of boards, including the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, AFLAC’s board of directors, and as the first woman to chair the National Cancer Institute’s National Cancer Advisory Board.  Dr. Rimer is a recipient of the Director's Award from the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society’s Distinguished Service Award.  She was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2008.  Dr. Rimer holds a B.A. and M.P.H. from the University of Michigan and a Dr.PH. from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Owen N. Witte, Appointee for Member, President’s Cancer Panel
Dr. Owen N. Witte has been Director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) since 2007.  From 2005 to 2007, he served as the Founding Director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at UCLA.  Dr. Witte first joined the faculty of UCLA in 1980, becoming the David Saxon Presidential Chair in Developmental Immunology in 1989, and a Distinguished Professor in 2004.  In addition, Dr. Witte has been an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1986.  Dr. Witte has served on a number of boards, including the American Association for Cancer Research.  He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine.  Dr. Witte holds a B.S. in Microbiology from Cornell University and an M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine.