Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate the following six individuals to serve in key Administration roles.
- Brian Nelson, Nominee for Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Department of the Treasury
- Lisa Brown, Nominee for General Counsel of the Department of Education
- Matt Olsen, Nominee for Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division, Department of Justice
- Elizabeth Rosenberg, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Terrorism Financing, Department of the Treasury
- Gwynne Wilcox, Nominee for Member of the National Labor Relations Board
- Arun Venkataraman, Nominee for Director General of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service and Assistant Secretary for Global Markets, Department of Commerce
Brian Nelson, Nominee for Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Department of the Treasury
Brian Nelson is the chief legal officer of LA28, the organizing committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. Before joining LA28, Nelson served in a number of senior roles in the California Department of Justice, overseeing key initiatives, including Attorney General-led efforts to combat transnational criminal organizations, dismantle human trafficking networks, and build state and international partnerships to stop money laundering and high-tech crimes. Before that, Nelson served in the U.S. Department of Justice as the National Security Division’s deputy chief of staff, supporting the managerial, policy and operational work of the Division. Nelson was a law clerk on the Ninth Circuit and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and received his bachelor’s degrees from UCLA and his J.D. from Yale Law School.
Lisa Brown, Nominee for General Counsel of the Department of Education
Lisa Brown is currently Vice President & General Counsel of Georgetown University, where she provides legal counsel to the University’s President, Board of Directors, and senior academic and administrative officers; serves in the President’s Cabinet; and mentors first generation college students and students interested in law and social justice. Ms. Brown also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Center for Law and Social Policy, DC Theatre Lab and SMYAL (Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders).
Ms. Brown has spent extensive time in public service. She served in the Administration of President Obama, first as Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary in the White House, and then as Acting Chief Performance Officer at the Office of Management and Budget. She had previously served as Co-Director of Agency Review for the Obama-Biden Transition Project. During the Administration of President Clinton, Ms. Brown began as a career lawyer in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice and then became Counsel to Vice President Gore, where she also served as a member of the Executive Board of the President’s Committee for Employment of People with Disabilities. Between the two administrations, Ms. Brown was Executive Director of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy. Before entering the government, Ms. Brown was a partner at the Washington law firm of Shea & Gardner. Ms. Brown clerked for the Honorable John C. Godbold on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Montgomery, Alabama.
Ms. Brown graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in political economy, and earned her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School where she graduated with Honors and served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of Chicago Legal Forum.
Ms. Brown lives in Bethesda, Maryland with her husband, Dr. Kevin Cullen, and their son Philip.
Matt Olsen, Nominee for Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division, Department of Justice
Matt Olsen served for over two decades as a government official on national and homeland security, law enforcement, and intelligence matters. Olsen served for three years as the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center under President Obama. Prior to leading NCTC, Olsen was the General Counsel for the National Security Agency. Olsen worked at the Department of Justice in a number of leadership positions. He served as an Associate Deputy Attorney General for national security and was Special Counselor to the Attorney General, overseeing the interagency review of Guantanamo detainees. Olsen helped establish the National Security Division and served as the first career Deputy Assistant Attorney General for National Security, managing intelligence activities for the Division. For over a decade, Olsen was a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. He also served as Special Counsel to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Olsen began his public service career as a career trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.
Olsen currently is the Chief Trust and Security Officer at Uber. After leaving government service, Olsen joined with the former director of NSA to found and lead IronNet Cybersecurity, Inc. Olsen has taught national security law at Harvard Law School and the University of Virginia. He is an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and the Center for American Progress, and is a member of the board of Human Rights First. Olsen graduated from Harvard Law School and the University of Virginia.
Elizabeth Rosenberg, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Terrorism Financing, Department of the Treasury
Elizabeth Rosenberg currently serves as Counselor to the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. In this role she advises senior Treasury officials on national security matters. Prior to taking on this role she served on the Biden-Harris Transition Team. Rosenberg was a Senior Fellow and Director of the Energy, Economics, and Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. In this capacity, she published and spoke on the national security and foreign policy implications of the use of sanctions and economic statecraft as well as energy market shifts. From May 2009 through September 2013, Ms. Rosenberg served as a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, to the Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, and then to the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. In these senior roles she helped to develop and implement sanctions, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist and counter-proliferation financing policy, and oversee financial regulatory enforcement activities. Previously, Rosenberg was an energy policy correspondent at Argus Media in Washington D.C., analyzing U.S. and Middle Eastern energy policy, regulation, and trading.
A native of Middlebury, Vermont, Rosenberg holds a master’s degree from New York University and a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College.
Gwynne Wilcox, Nominee for Member of the National Labor Relations Board
Gwynne A. Wilcox is a senior partner at Levy Ratner, P.C., a New York City union-side labor and employment law firm. Prior to joining Levy Ratner, Wilcox worked as a Field Attorney at Region 2 of the National Labor Relations Board in New York City. Wilcox’s practice is devoted to representing unions before the NLRB and other administrative agencies, in arbitrations and contract negotiations, and advising unions regarding internal matters. Gwynne currently serves as Associate General Counsel of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and also serves as a labor representative to the NYC Office of Collective Bargaining, deciding cases involving NYC agencies and unions representing City employees.
Wilcox is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and a member of the Labor and Employment Law sections of both the American Bar Association and NY State Bar Association, serving in leadership roles that have, most recently, focused on Diversity initiatives. Wilcox serves on Boards of several organizations, including the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution of Cornell University’s ILR School and the Peggy Browning Fund. She is a recipient of numerous awards, including, Syracuse University’s Chancellor’s Citation for Distinguished Achievement “in honor of an exceptional career in law and dedication to advancing diversity,” and the Peggy Browning Fund’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Wilcox has a J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law-Newark and a B.A. from Syracuse University.
Arun Venkataraman, Nominee for Director General of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service and Assistant Secretary for Global Markets, Department of Commerce
Arun Venkataraman has over 20 years of experience advising companies, international organizations and the U.S. government on international trade issues. He is currently Counselor to the Secretary of Commerce, advising the Department on trade and other international economic matters. Before joining the Biden-Harris Administration, Arun was a Senior Director at Visa, leading global government engagement strategy on a range of international policy issues including digital economy, trade, tax and sanctions. He previously served as Trade & Investment Policy Advisor at Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where he counseled multinational firms and other organizations on e-commerce, intellectual property rights, and U.S. and foreign trade policies.
As the first ever Director of Policy at the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration under President Obama, Venkataraman helped shape the US government’s responses to critical challenges faced by firms in the US and in markets around the world, including China and India. While at the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), he led the development and implementation of US-India trade policy as the Director for India, for which he received the agency’s Kelly Award for outstanding performance and extraordinary leadership. Arun also served as Associate General Counsel, representing the United States in litigation before the World Trade Organization and in negotiations on international trade agreements. Before joining USTR, Venkataraman was a Legal Officer at the World Trade Organization, advising the organization on a wide range of issues raised in appeals of trade disputes between countries. He began his career as a Law Clerk for Judge Jane A. Restani at the U.S. Court of International Trade. Venkataraman holds a J.D. from Columbia Law School, a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a B.A. from Tufts University.
