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Featured Story
June 15, 2009
Wharton and the White House
Obama Appointees Bring Wharton Ties to Washington
Obama Appointees Bring Wharton Ties to Washington
With a new federal administration, Washington has seen a flurry of new appointments to key positions. A number of these new appointees have Wharton ties.
Most recently, Daniel M. Tangherlini, WG’01, was nominated to become assistant secretary for management, chief financial officer, and chief performance officer at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he will serve as a principal policy adviser to Secretary Timothy Geithner. Tangherlini moves from the Washington D.C. Mayor’s office where he served for two years as a city administrator.
G. Edward DeSeve, WG’71, serving as special advisor to President Barack Obama and assistant to Vice President Joe Biden, will lead the distribution of federal stimulus funds. A former Clinton official, DeSeve held positions during the tenures of three Philadelphia mayors and former Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey. Most recently he was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government.
In March, the Senate approved Gary Gensler, W’78, WG’79, as Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. A former Goldman Sachs executive who served under both Clinton Treasury Secretaries, Gensler possesses both private- and government-sector experience. Appointed in December 2008 by then-President Bush, Neil Barofsky, C’92, W’92, continues to serve under the Obama Administration as Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
Also joining the administration is Robert Wolf, W’84, Chairman and CEO of UBS Group Americas, named to the newly created Economic Recovery Advisory Board. And joining the U.S. Senate as Delaware’s newest senator is Edward “Ted” Kaufman, WG’66, appointed to fill the vacant seat of Joe Biden.
In the Department of Agriculture, Obama nominated Rajiv Shah, M’02, GrW’05, as Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics. Shah, named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2007, currently is the Director of Agricultural Development in the Global Development Program for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Nancy-Ann DeParle, Senior Fellow of Health Care Management, leaves Wharton to become Counselor to the President and Director of the new Office of Health Reform. DeParle is an expert in health care regulatory issues.
Founded in 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson to encourage active citizenship and service to the nation, the White House Fellows Program is now led by Cindy Moelis, W’82. Moelis most recently served as the Executive Director of the Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation.
Meanwhile, Michael Vickers, WG’88, continues his service as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict and Interdependent Capabilities, a position he has held since 2007.
