Agencies Name Additional Biden Appointees with Tech Expertise
President Joe Biden answers questions from reporters in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex Jan. 25. Evan Vucci/AP
Federal departments continue to roll out their rosters of officials tapped by the new administration.
The Office of Personnel Management, Energy Department and other agencies announced new technology-focused officials set to join President Joe Biden’s growing list of appointees.
Among the key Biden-Harris staff appointments OPM named on Monday is Curtis Mejeur, who is the senior adviser to the agency’s director for technology and delivery. He’ll approach the position informed by prior federal experience in the Office of Management and Budget, and at OPM where the release said he helped “restore agency systems.”
“[Mejeur] has modernized services across the government,” the announcement noted. “He was recently the Chief Delivery Officer of a tech startup focused on serving government agencies.”
The Energy Department also recently issued a detailed tally of new appointments. In it, the agency confirmed Vanessa Chan will serve as director of the agency’s Technology Transitions Office.
“She has spent the past 20 years helping large companies commercialize their technologies and revamping the academic curriculum of engineering students to make a greater social impact,” officials said in the publication. Several others were specified, including the person selected by the new administration to serve as Energy’s chief of staff—Tarak Shah—who the release deemed “the first person of color, first Indian-American, and first openly LGBTQ person to serve in that position at DOE.”
After naming some of its so-far selected appointees last week, the General Services Administration on Monday also announced two senior advisers with diverse expertise have been selected by its acting administrator to advance the agency’s response to executive actions Biden unleashed as part of his comprehensive push against the pandemic. Those officials include Zoe Garmendia, senior adviser to the administrator on COVID-19 and Josh Sawislak, senior adviser to the administrator focused on the implementation of those Biden-issued mandates.
Selections continue to flow in for senior roles, however, who will fill several top cybersecurity-centered positions remains up in the air—even as the government responds to an ongoing breach of weighty American information systems. A recent Politico report suggests Biden “will likely tap” for Homeland Security Department Assistant Secretary Robert Silvers to steer the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, though the administration has not yet made an official announcement.
The Commerce and Education departments, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are amongst other agencies to share lists of fresh appointments. The Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, and Defense departments also made similar announcements last week.