Biden names senior OPM officials

President Joe Biden announced a raft of senior officials to help lead the Office of Personnel Management on Jan. 25. The positions are for appointments that don't require Senate confirmation.

The news, first reported by Axios over the weekend, comes on the heels of executive orders in Biden's first days in office that started the rollback of much of the Trump administration's workforce policy.

The release announcing the picks stressed the administration's "commitment to build a federal workforce that reflects the diversity of America," a promise Biden voiced repeatedly during his campaign. The announcement states that 85% of this first group of OPM appointees are people of color, women or LGBTQ.

Kathleen McGettigan, the chief management officer at OPM and agency veteran of 30 years, is serving as the acting director of the office until someone is nominated and confirmed. McGettigan also served as the acting director for OPM at the beginning of the Trump administration.

Chris Canning, an Obama administration OPM alumnus, has been nominated to be the chief of staff. From 2013 to 2015, he worked in the office as the senior advisor to the OPM director before moving to work at DKC Public Relations affairs. Canning was the senior advisor to the director in the office from 2013 to 2015. Recently, he has been working on the transition team for the Biden-Harris administration.

"We are looking forward to joining the hard-working and committed civil servants at OPM to support and empower the federal workforce," Canning said on behalf of the group.

Dave Marsh, another former Obama White House OPM and Office of Management and Budget employee, has been nominated to work as the senior advisor to the chief of staff.

Lynn Eisenberg , another former Obama administration employee, will serve as the agency's general counsel. She's been working as the deputy general counsel of the campaign and then as counsel for the Biden-Harris transition team. Before that, she worked in the Strategic Response group of WilmerHale. In the Obama White House, she was associate counsel.

The administration tapped Shelby Wagenseller of Signal Group DC to be OPM's press secretary. She has previously worked for Democratic National Convention and as the deputy press secretary for the Agriculture Department in the Obama administration.

Margot Conrad, an alumna of the Partnership for Public Service, has also been nominated to serve as the Chief Human Capital Officers Council and a senior advisor to the director.

Curtis Mejeur has also been selected to work in the office as a senior advisor to the director, specifically on technology and delivery. He has previously worked for the office on the restoration of agency systems and in the Office of Management and Budget.

Robert Shriver, former deputy general counsel in the Obama administration and assistant director for national healthcare operations, has been nominated as the associate director of employee services.

David Padrino , formerly Colorado's chief performance officer, was selected to serve as executive director of the Office of Human Capital Data Management and Modernization, and Jane Lee has been nominated to serve as the senior advisor to the director. She worked as the deputy chief operating officer at OPM in the Obama White House.

Other incoming OPM senior staffers include Theodora Chang, selected to serve as special assistant to the director; Jim Cho as deputy director for congressional, legislative and intergovernmental affairs; Tanya Sehgal, special counsel and senior advisor; Jason Tengco, White House liason and Mini Timmaraju, senior advisor to the director.