WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate the following three individuals to serve in key roles:

• Rufus Gifford, Nominee for Chief of Protocol, with the rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service, Department of State
• Kathleen Miller, Nominee for Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)
• Larry Turner, Nominee for Inspector General, Department of Labor

Rufus Gifford, Nominee for Chief of Protocol, with the rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service, Department of State

Rufus Gifford is a private consultant who left his consultancy work to serve as Deputy Campaign Manager, Biden for President. Earlier, Gifford was the U.S. Ambassador to Denmark.  Prior to that, Gifford was the Finance Chair of the Presidential Inaugural Committee in Washington, D.C., Finance Director, Obama for America, Chicago, Illinois, and Finance Director, Democratic National Committee, Washington, DC.  Earlier he was the California Finance Director, Presidential Inaugural Committee, for President Obama’s first inauguration and was a Political Consultant in Los Angeles, California.  Actively engaged as a civil society leader, Gifford has promoted and sponsored a variety of organizations including UTEC in Lowell, Massachusetts, The LGBT History Museum in New York, NY, Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C. and The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, MA. Gifford received a bachelor’s degree from Brown University in 1996. 

Kathleen Miller, Nominee for Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)

Kathleen S. Miller (Kathy) is a career member of the Senior Executive Service with deep roots in defense comptrollership.  She currently serves as the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army, the Army’s most senior career civilian position.  As a Principal Official of the Department of the Army she oversees the support and infrastructure functions for Headquarters, Department of the Army and for key Army-wide services. She leads a diverse and geographically separate civilian and military team of over 600 personnel, covering a wide range of functions such as human resources, budget, equal employment opportunity, security, facilities, publications, records management and heraldic services.  Prior to this assignment she has held other key civilian leadership positions on the Army Staff as the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations, Plans and Training and Principle Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics.

Prior to her time on the Army Staff, Ms. Miller served in several executive positions in Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Financial Management and Comptroller, including as the Acting Director and Senior Civilian Advisor for the Army’s Budget. In these positions she oversaw budget formulation, defense and execution across the breadth of the Army’s appropriations.  Ms. Miller’s prior positions include Acting Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Associate Chief Financial Officer at the Internal Revenue Service.

Ms. Miller holds a Bachelor of Science in Resource Economics from Cornell University, a Masters of Business Administration from Syracuse University and a Masters in Strategic Studies from the US Army War College. She is a native of upstate New York and lives in Virginia with her husband. 

Larry Turner, Nominee for Inspector General, Department of Labor

Mr. Larry D. Turner was sworn in as the Deputy Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on September 8, 2014. And since June 22, 2020, he has served as Acting Inspector General. In these roles, Mr. Turner has been responsible for overseeing the administration of a nationwide, independent program of audits and investigations involving DOL programs and operations, and for combatting the influence of organized crime and labor racketeering corruption in the workplace. Prior to joining the DOL Office of Inspector General, Mr. Turner served as Deputy and Acting Assistant Inspector General for the Office of Communication and Congressional Liaison, Department of Defense, and the Deputy Inspector General for the Army Installation Management Command (IMCOM). Before joining the IG community, Mr. Turner served as Army Installation Management Command Liaison Officer to the Army Materiel Command, and Executive Officer to the Executive Director, IMCOM. Mr. Turner served 24 years in the U.S. Army and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Mr. Turner is a native of Rocky Mount, NC. He is a graduate of Hampton High School, Hampton, Va. He holds a BS Degree in Business from Morgan State University, an MBA in Business Management from Golden Gate University, and an MS Degree in Resource Management from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF). He is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College; the Harvard University Senior Executive Fellow Program; and the Federal Executive Institute. Mr. Turner holds a Certificate in Financial Planning from Georgetown University. He has received numerous civilian and military awards to include: DoD and Army Civilian Meritorious Service Awards, Civilian Superior Service Award, Civilian Commander’s Award, Legion of Merit, and Meritorious Service Medal with Five Oak Leaf Clusters, multiple Southwest Asia Medals, and the Army Parachutist Badge.

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