President Obama sent his judicial and departmental nominations to the U.S. Senate on Jan. 6. Among the nearly 250 names submitted were the following members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities:
Vince Girdhari Chhabria, of California, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of California, vice Susan Y. Illston, retired.
Manish S. Shah, of Illinois, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, vice Joan Humphrey Lefkow, retired.
Indira Talwani, of Massachusetts, to be United States District Judge for the District of Massachusetts, vice Mark L. Wolf, retired.
Theodore David Chuang, of Maryland, to be United States District Judge for the District of Maryland, vice Roger W. Titus, retiring.
Lanhee J. Chen, of California, to be a Member of the Social Security Advisory Board for a term expiring Sept. 30, 2018, vice Mark J. Warshawsky, term expired.
Pamela K. Hamamoto, of Hawaii, to be Representative of the United States of America to the Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, with the rank of Ambassador.
Esther Puakela Kia’aina, of Hawaii, to be an Assistant Secretary of the Interior, vice Anthony Marion Babauta.
Arun Madhavan Kumar, of California, to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service, vice Suresh Kumar, resigned.
Donald Lu, of California, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Albania.
Vivek Hallegere Murthy, of Massachusetts, to be Medical Director in the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service, subject to qualifications therefore as provided by law and regulations, and to be Surgeon General of the Public Health Service for a term of four years, vice, Regina M. Benjamin, resigned.
Rhea Sun Suh, of Colorado, to be Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife, vice Thomas L. Strickland, resigned.
Puneet Talwar, of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Political-Military Affairs), vice Andrew J. Shapiro.
Portia Y. Wu, of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Labor, vice Jane Oates.
Christopher P. Lu, Deputy Secretary, Dept. of Labor. (end)