President Biden Announces Key Nominees

By Jessel Renolayan First Posted: Jun 04, 2023 08:31 PM EDT

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

Marjorie Rollinson, Nominee for Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue Service
David E. White Jr., Nominee for Deputy Director of the Peace Corps
Jeffrey Prescott, Nominee for U.S. Representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, with the rank of Ambassador
Gwynne A. Wilcox, Nominee for Member of the National Labor Relations Board
Suzanne Elizabeth Summerlin, Nominee for General Counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority
Summer K. Mersinger, Nominee for Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Mark Toshiro Uyeda, Nominee for Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission

(Photo : JIM WATSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Marjorie Rollinson, Nominee for Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue Service

Marjorie Rollinson has had a distinguished career in tax services. She recently retired from the firm Ernst & Young where she served as the Deputy Director of the National Tax Department since the beginning of 2019. She began her career at Ernst & Young in 1987 (known then as Ernst & Whinney), becoming a partner in 1997. In 2003 she became the Director of the International Tax Services National Tax Group where she served clients directly and also led the International Tax Technical Committee. In 2013 she left the firm to join the Office of Chief Counsel as Technical Deputy Associate Chief Counsel in the Office of the Associate Chief Counsel International, and she was named Associate Chief Counsel International in 2016. In this role, Rollinson oversaw on office of 100 tax lawyers who were responsible for issuing published guidance and providing the Internal Revenue Service with technical expertise on all matters pertaining to international tax rules. In this role she worked closely with the Treasury Department and the Department of Justice. Rollinson received her B.A. from Wellesley College in 1984, and her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1987. She is a member of the Maryland Bar Association.

David E. White Jr., Nominee for Deputy Director of the Peace Corps

David E. White Jr. currently serves as Special Assistant to the President in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel (PPO). Prior to this role, he served on the National Security Council as Senior Advisor to the White House Coordinator for Operation Allies Welcome, where he facilitated whole-of-government efforts to provide housing, health care, education, employment, and other resources at scale for nearly 90,000 Afghan allies resettled in the United States. An attorney by training, White joined the Biden-Harris Administration as Deputy Associate Counsel in PPO. He was previously a member of the Biden-Harris Transition Team and an attorney at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York City.

White began his career in public service as a cavalry officer in the U.S. Army. He served on active duty in a variety of domestic and overseas assignments, including as a Scout Platoon Leader in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom from 2011 to 2012. After being wounded in combat, White served as second-in-command of the Warrior Transition Unit at West Point, where he coordinated care for other wounded, ill, and injured service members. His military awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, and Combat Action Badge. White is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and earned his law degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School. He clerked for Judge Paul J. Watford of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Born and raised in New York's Hudson Valley, White lives with his wife, Dana McKinney White, in Washington, D.C.

Jeffrey Prescott, Nominee for U.S. Representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, with the rank of Ambassador

Jeffrey Prescott is Deputy to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, leading Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield's Washington office at the Department of State. During the Obama-Biden Administration, Prescott served as then-Vice President Biden's Deputy National Security Advisor and his Special Advisor for Asian Affairs. He also served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Iran, Iraq, Syria, and the Gulf States on the National Security Council. Prescott joined the Obama-Biden Administration in 2010 as a White House Fellow. Prior to the Biden-Harris Administration, he was Executive Director of National Security Action and Strategic Consultant to the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, Prescott was a Senior Research Scholar and Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School and Deputy Director of Yale's China Center. He was also a Bernstein Fellow and staff attorney at the Lawyers Committee on Human Rights in New York. Raised in Wichita, Kansas, Prescott earned his B.A. from Boston University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

Gwynne A. Wilcox, Nominee for Member of the National Labor Relations Board

Gwynne A. Wilcox has served as a Member of the NLRB since August 4, 2021 with her term ending on August 27, 2023. She is the first Black woman to serve on the Board since its inception in 1935. Wilcox is also the first Board Member to be sworn-in both with English and Spanish as the agency strives to be more inclusive, welcoming, and accessible for all its workers. In November 2021, Wilcox was presented with the Honorable Bernice B. Donald Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Legal Profession Award by the ABA's Labor and Employment Law Section. The award is given to a member, law firm, corporation, organization or academic institution "that has demonstrated leadership in and commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession."

Before joining the Board, Wilcox was a senior partner at Levy Ratner, P.C., a New York City labor and employment law firm. While there, she served as Associate General Counsel of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and as a labor representative to the NYC Office of Collective Bargaining. Prior to joining Levy Ratner, she worked as a Field Attorney at Region 2 of the NLRB in New York City. Wilcox holds a J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law-Newark, a B.A. from Syracuse University,

and is a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.

Suzanne Elizabeth Summerlin, Nominee for General Counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority

Suzanne Elizabeth Summerlin currently serves as Deputy General Counsel and Deputy Executive Director for the Federal Education Association, representing educators who serve our military families stateside and overseas. Previously, Summerlin served as Associate General Counsel for the National Federation of Federal Employees, the federal sector affiliate of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and was a Peggy Browning Fund Fellow at the American Federation of Government Employees within the AFL-CIO.

Summerlin has extensive experience in federal sector labor law, advocating for a wide range of civilian employees at more than thirty agencies, including U.S. Forest Service wildland firefighters, Department of State passport processors, General Services Administration contract administrators, Veterans Administration medical professionals, Transportation Security Administration security screeners, and Army Corps of Engineers employees. In her work, Summerlin has litigated cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. She has also negotiated collective bargaining agreements on behalf of doctors and nurses at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and educators serving in Europe and Asia with the Department of Defense Education Activity. Prior to beginning her legal career, Summerlin was an award-winning broadcast journalist, working as a television news producer and documentary film producer. Summerlin earned her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Florida, and is proud to be 100% public-school educated.

Summer K. Mersinger, Nominee for Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Summer K. Mersinger has served as a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) since March 2022 after her nomination by President Biden and unanimous confirmation from the Senate. Prior to her appointment, Mersinger served as the Chief of Staff to CFTC Commissioner Dawn D. Stump. She also served as the Director of the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Commission under former Chairman Heath Tarbert. Mersinger has 20 years of Capitol Hill and government relations experience. Prior to joining the CFTC, she was Senior Vice President at Smith-Free Group, a leading government affairs practice, where she worked on financial services issues including advocating for large fintech organizations.

From 2004 to 2016, Mersinger was a top aide to current Senate Minority Whip John Thune, who represents her home state of South Dakota. Most recently she served as the Chief of Staff in his D.C. office, coordinating legislative activities for the Senator's team and working regularly with Senate leadership and senior staff on both sides of the aisle. Mersinger was instrumental during policy debates involving banking, finance, telecommunications, surface transportation, agriculture, and trade issues. Mersinger was also directly involved in the communications efforts spearheaded by Senator Thune through his leadership post on the Senate Republican Conference. Prior to joining Senator Thune's staff, Mersinger was Director of Government Relations at Arent Fox, and also worked in Senator Thune's office while he was a member of the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2002. Mersinger completed her undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota and her law degree from the Catholic University's Columbus School of law. She is a proud mother of four children, and resides in Northern Virginia with her husband.

Mark Toshiro Uyeda, Nominee for Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission

Mark Toshiro Uyeda currently serves as a Commissioner with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He has nearly 28 years of experience in corporate and securities law, including 19 years of public service working in federal and state government. Uyeda joined the SEC in 2006 and has worked in various capacities as a career attorney, including as Senior Advisor to Chairman Jay Clayton and Acting Chairman Michael S. Piwowar, as well as Counsel to Commissioner Paul S. Atkins. He has also served as Assistant Director and Senior Special Counsel in the SEC's Division of Investment Management. He was on detail from 2021 to 2022 from the SEC to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs as Securities Counsel to the Committee's Minority Staff. Uyeda has been recognized with multiple SEC awards, including the SEC Chairman's Award for Excellence and the SEC Capital Markets Award. Uyeda is also a past Chair of the SEC Asian Pacific American Employees Committee.

From 2004 to 2006, Uyeda served as Chief Advisor to the California Corporations Commissioner, the state's securities regulator. Before entering public service, Uyeda was an attorney in private practice with O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Los Angeles, and Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP in Washington, D.C. He is a past President of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, D.C. Area. Uyeda received his J.D. with honors from Duke University and his B.A. in Business Administration from Georgetown University.