Joe Biden Announces Key Nominees

By Jessel Renolayan First Posted: May 02, 2023 11:26 PM EDT

President Joe Biden today announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve as key leaders in his administration:

Edgard D. Kagan, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Malaysia
Nathalie Rayes, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Croatia
Steven L. Swig, Nominee for Member of the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation

(Photo : Mark Makela/Getty Images)

Edgard D. Kagan, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Malaysia

Edgard Kagan, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, is the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for East Asia and Oceania at the National Security Council.

Kagan previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassies in New Delhi, India and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific in the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Kagan also served as Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Mumbai, India, as Deputy Director of the Washington Office of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, and as Director of Korean Affairs and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Japan and Korea in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

He has also served overseas in Australia, China, Israel, Hungary, and Cote d'Ivoire. Kagan earned his Bachelor's degree at Yale University. The recipient of the Presidential Meritorious Award, he speaks French, Mandarin Chinese, Hungarian, and Spanish.

Nathalie Rayes, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Croatia

Nathalie Rayes has had a distinguished career in public service as a leader, consensus builder, and advocate. Rayes is the President and CEO of Latino Victory. Before joining Latino Victory, Rayes was Vice President of Public Affairs for Grupo Salinas in the United States and Executive Director of Fundación Azteca America.

Earlier in her career, she served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn, where she managed the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, International Trade, Protocol and established Los Angeles's first Office of Immigrant Affairs.

She began her government career as a Field Deputy and later as Senior Advisor to Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Feuer. Rayes currently serves on the Board of the United States Institute of Peace, as appointed by Biden.

She also serves as Chair of the Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE) Binational U.S.-Mexico Executive Leadership Advisory Group, Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Hispanic Federation and Planned Parenthood Action Fund as well as an Advisory Board Member of the Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program.

Rayes was appointed during the Obama-Biden Administration to serve on the Board of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars from 2014 to 2020. She was a fellow in the Economic Political Section at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and was selected as an Asia 21 Fellow of the Asia Society.

Rayes earned a B.A. in Sociology and an M.P.P. with concentrations in International Relations and Education from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She is the author of numerous publications, has received many accolades throughout her career, and speaks fluent Spanish and conversational Arabic.

Steven L. Swig, Nominee for Member of the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation

Steven L. Swig is presently a co-founder of Freedom to Prosper, an organization devoted to the full cancellation of student debt. The activities of the organization stemmed from his work at Harvard University's Advanced Leadership Initiative, where he was a Fellow and later Senior Fellow in 2014 and 2015.

He is also a co-founder and current President Emeritus of Presidio Graduate School, a business school that confers an MBA in Sustainable Management.

Swig has practiced law for many years, specializing first in Complex Antitrust Litigation with the Law Offices of Joseph L. Alioto, and then in real estate and general corporate transactions, first as a partner of Titchell, Maltzman, and Mark, and later Of Counsel with Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk, and Rabkin.

He is a member of the State Bar of California, the American Bar Association, and the Bar Association of San Francisco. Swig was also Executive Vice President of The Swig Company, a commercial real estate management and development company, and currently serves on its Board of Directors.

He is also Chair of the Boards of Solar Electric Light Fund and Americans For Cures (Stem Cells), Vice Chair of the Board of the American Conservatory Theater, and Trustee Emeritus of Presidio Graduate School.

He has served on the national Board of Governors of the American Jewish Committee, and on the boards or advisory boards of the United States Institute of Peace, The Wright Institute (Chair of the Board), University of Oregon Foundation, San Francisco University High School (Founding Trustee), St. Francis Memorial Hospital, Mt. Zion Hospital, Jewish Home for the Aged, and the Jewish Community Museum (Founding Trustee).