President Biden Announces His Intent to Nominate Key Administration Leaders on Climate and Transportation

WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate 10 members of his Administration to lead on climate and transportation matters across key agencies, including the Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Transportation.

The President has tapped Tommy Beaudreau for Deputy Secretary of the Interior, Department of the Interior, Meera Joshi for Administrator, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Department of Transportation, Faisal Amin for Chief Financial Officer, Environmental Protection Agency, Christopher Coes for Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, Department of Transportation, Shannon Estenoz for Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, Department of the Interior, Radhika Fox for Assistant Administrator for Water, Environmental Protection Agency, Michal Freedhoff for Assistant Administrator for Chemical Safety and Pollution Protection, Environmental Protection Agency, Jill Hruby for Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and Administrator for of the National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy, Winnie Stachelberg for Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget, Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior, and Tanya Trujillo, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, Department of the Interior.

Tommy P. Beaudreau is an attorney and former Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of the Interior under Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. During his nearly seven years with the Interior Department, he also served as the first Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and as Acting Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management. Beaudreau was born in Colorado and raised in Alaska. He currently is a lawyer in private practice in the Environment, Land and Resources Department at Latham & Watkins, LLP and was a non-resident fellow with Columbia University’s Center for Global Energy Policy. Beaudreau is a graduate of Yale University and the Georgetown University Law Center. He resides in Washington, DC with his wife and two children.

Meera Joshi was appointed as the Deputy Administrator and senior official of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on January 20, 2021. She is an attorney with over 16 years of experience leading government oversight agencies. She was Chair and CEO of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, the nation’s largest for-hire transportation regulator where she spearheaded novel Vision Zero campaigns using data tools to keep high risk drivers and unsafe vehicles off the road. She also led landmark policy, including establishing robust open transportation data standards for app based providers; enacting the nation’s first for-hire driver pay protection program and providing broad access to for-hire transportation for passengers who use wheelchairs.

Prior to transportation regulation, Joshi was the Inspector General for New York City’s Department of Corrections, responsible for investigation of corruption and criminality at all levels of New York City’s jail operations and the First Deputy Executive Director of New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, leading investigations of police misconduct.

In addition to her government positions, Joshi served as General Manager for the New York Office of Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants, and was a visiting scholar at New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy. Joshi was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She holds a B.A. and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Faisal Amin currently serves as Deputy Director of the Office of Administration in the Executive Office of the President. Most recently, he worked on the Executive Office of the President Management and Administration Agency Review Team, as well as the Vetting Operations team, on the Biden-Harris Transition. During the Obama-Biden Administration, he served in several roles, including as Chief Financial Officer of the Executive Office of the President, where he led the team responsible for managing all aspects of finance and procurement for EOP components.

Amin has spent the majority of his career as an appropriations attorney at the United States Government Accountability Office, researching and drafting appropriations law decisions, providing technical assistance to agencies and Congress, and teaching appropriations law classes. While on detail from GAO to the Senate Interior Appropriations subcommittee, he helped develop and advocate for EPA’s fiscal year 2020 appropriation.

Originally from California, Amin earned his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley, and his law degree at the University of Arizona. He lives in Maryland with his wife and two sons.

Christopher Coes serves as the Acting Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy.

Prior to joining the President Biden’s Administration, C0es served as Vice President for Land Use and Development at Smart Growth America (SGA), and considered nationally recognized leader in leveraging public policy, the private sector and community assets to build equitable, sustainable communities.

For the last ten years, he led SGA’s built environment programs – LOCUS: Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors, the National Brownfields Coalition and TOD Finance and Advisors, Inc., a for-profit subsidiary of Smart Growth America – which has resulted in major federal policy victories including securing over $20 billion in new transit-oriented development and local infrastructure financing and the reauthorization of the EPA’s brownfields program.

Under Coes leadership, SGA grew to become a national leader known to be unafraid to tackle some of the toughest challenges facing the smart growth real estate industry today. Coes authored series of reports and publications, including a 2020 report on the impact of converging trends of climate, racial injustice, COVID-19 and economic recovery on the built environment and a 2018 national opportunity zone report to help investors and local policymakers identify and deliver positive economic, environmental, and social returns.

Prior to joining Smart Growth America, Coes served as a Consultant for Government Affairs and Campaigns at M+R Strategic Services. As a consultant, Christopher worked with various clients including Save Darfur, SEIU, Habitat for Humanity and Transportation for America, where he served as Senior Campaign Advisor and Deputy Director. In addition to his work on transportation, community development and real estate issues, Coes brings over fifteen years of experience in domestic policy, political and advocacy campaigns, strategic planning and organizational management.

Coes received a BA/MA in Government and Politics from St. John’s University and was honored to receive the 2015 Emerging Leader Award from AAREP of DC.

Shannon Estenoz is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks for the Department of the Interior. Prior to being appointed to her current position, Shannon served as the Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Policy for The Everglades Foundation. Previously, Shannon served as the US Department of the Interior’s Director of Everglades Restoration Initiatives and the Executive Director of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force. Her previous professional roles also include Executive Director of the Environmental and Land Use Law Center, Everglades Program Director of the World Wildlife Fund, Sun Coast Regional Director of the National Parks Conservation Association and three terms as the National Co-Chair of the Everglades Coalition. Estenoz’s public service includes appointments to Florida Governor Lawton Chiles’ Commission for a Sustainable South Florida, Governor Jeb Bush’s Commission for the Everglades, the Governing Board of the South Florida Water Management District, the Water Resources Advisory Commission and the Broward Water Resources Task Force.

Estenoz is a fifth generation native of Key West, Florida. She holds degrees in International Affairs and Civil Engineering from Florida State University.

On January 20, 2021, President Biden appointed Radhika Fox to the position of Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water at the Environmental Protection Agency. She currently serves as the Acting Assistant Administer for Water. The EPA’s Office of Water works to ensure that drinking water is safe, wastewater is safely returned to the environment, and surface waters are properly managed and protected.

Prior to joining EPA, Fox served as Chief Executive Officer for the US Water Alliance, where she established herself as a widely recognized national thought leader on complex water issues, from equitable water management to investing in our nation’s water infrastructure. Her work has helped address the most salient water issues facing the nation—including climate change, affordability, equity, governance, innovative finance, and the evolution of the One Water movement. Fox previously directed the policy and government affairs agenda for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which is responsible for providing 24/7 water, wastewater, and municipal power services to 2.6 million Bay Area residents. She also served as the Federal Policy Director at PolicyLink, where she coordinated the organization’s policy agenda on a wide range of issues, including infrastructure investment, transportation, sustainable communities, economic inclusion, and workforce development.

Fox holds a B.A. from Columbia University and a Masters in City and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley where she was a HUD Community Development Fellow.

Michal Ilana Freedhoff currently serves as the Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She has more than twenty years of government experience, most recently as the Minority Director of Oversight for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. She began her Congressional service in 1996 in then-Congressman Ed Markey’s office as a Congressional Science and Engineering fellow after receiving a Ph.D. in physical chemistry at the University of Rochester. She has also served on the staffs of the House Science Committee, the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee. With environmental expertise spanning a range of policy areas, her legislative work includes the 2016 re-authorization of the Toxic Substances Control Act, 2019 legislation to address PFAS contamination, the fuel economy provisions in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, and a law requiring the creation of an online database of potential consumer product safety defects. She lives in Bethesda, MD with her husband Michael Van Leeuwen and their four children, Zahava, Rena, Sammy and Vivienne.

Jill Hruby is a mechanical engineer who joined Sandia National Laboratories as a member of the technical staff in 1983 and retired as the Laboratories Director in 2017 after a distinguished 34-year career. At Sandia, Hruby held roles of increasing management responsibilities with experiences in nuclear weapons systems and component design, nuclear non-proliferation, defense and homeland security technologies and systems, renewable energy, materials science, engineering sciences, and microsystems technology. She was the first woman to lead a national security lab.

Since her retirement, Hruby served as the inaugural Sam Nunn Distinguished Fellow at the Nuclear Threat Initiative from 2018-2019. In addition, she has been a member of the Defense Science Board, the National Nuclear Security Administration Defense Programs Advisory Committee, and the National Academy of Science Committee for International Security and Arms Control. She has served on a variety of technical advisory committees and non-profit organization boards. She is a frequent participant in international dialogs; a spokesperson for women in engineering; and a mentor for emerging leaders.

Hruby earned her bachelor’s degree from Purdue University and her master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley, both in mechanical engineering. She has authored numerous publications and reports, holds three patents, and received an R&D 100 Award. In 2016, she received the Suzanne Jenniches Upward Mobility Award from the Society of Women Engineers. In 2017, Business Insider named her the second most powerful female engineer. Jill has received the Department of Energy Secretary’s Exceptional Service Award, the National Nuclear Security Administrator’s Distinguished Service Gold Award, and Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service.

Winnie Stachelberg is the executive vice president for External Affairs at the Center for American Progress. Since 2006 she has played an integral role in developing and driving the strategic direction of a multi-issue progressive agenda among elected officials, advocacy groups, and other stakeholders. A champion for LBGTQ rights, Stachelberg has been instrumental in shaping policy victories such as the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the passage of the Equality Act in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Prior to joining CAP, Stachelberg spent 11 years with the Human Rights Campaign, serving as both Political Director and the first vice president of HRC’s Foundation. Stachelberg started her career as a budget analyst at the Office of Management and Budget. A native New Yorker, Stachelberg taught English at George Washington High School after graduating Georgetown University. She earned a master’s degree in public administration from George Washington University.

Tanya Trujillo is a water lawyer with more than 20 years of experience working on complex natural resources management issues and interstate and transboundary water agreements. During her career, she has worked extensively with technical experts and has been part of diverse interdisciplinary teams to address resource management challenges. Prior to her current role with the Department of the Interior, she worked as a project director with the Colorado River Sustainability Campaign to support philanthropy and non-governmental teams working on issues throughout the Colorado River Basin. She previously served as the Executive Director of the Colorado River Board of California working closely with agricultural and municipal water users who utilize water from the Colorado River. In Washington, DC, Ms. Trujillo served as Senior Council to the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman and previously worked with the Department of the Interior as Counselor to the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science during the Obama administration.

Trujillo is a native New Mexican. She served as general counsel to the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission and started her career as a natural resources lawyer in private practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Ms. Trujillo attended Stanford University and the University of Iowa College of Law.