President Biden Announces His Intent to Nominate Key Roles in the Department of Interior, Department of Transportation, and Department of Veterans Affairs

WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Robert Anderson for Solicitor of the Department of Interior, Mohsin Syed for Assistant Secretary of Government Affairs, Department of Transportation, and Patricia Ross for Assistant Secretary of Congressional and Legislative Affairs, Department of Veterans Affairs

Robert Anderson is currently the Principal Deputy Solicitor for the U.S. Department of the Interior. For 20 years he was a law professor at the University of Washington and directed its Native American Law Center. He has been the Oneida Indian Nation Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School for the past twelve years. He is a co-author and editor of the leading federal Indian Law treatise, Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law, and is a co-author of a leading textbook on American Indian Law. He has extensive expertise and has published many articles in the fields of natural resources law, water law, and American Indian law. He grew up in the small town of Ely in northeastern Minnesota and is an enrolled member of the Bois Forte Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Anderson attended local public schools and received his law degree from the University of Minnesota. He served as the Associate Solicitor for Indian Affairs and Counselor to the Secretary under Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. He began his career as a staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, where he practiced law for twelve years. Anderson also served on the transition agency review teams for President-elect Obama and President-elect Biden.

Mohsin Raza Syed currently serves as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). Mohsin previously served for over six years on Capitol Hill, including as the Majority Chief Counsel for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Minority Staff Director for the Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security within the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Legislative Counsel for Senator Bill Nelson. Prior to his work on Capitol Hill, Mohsin worked as a career Attorney-Advisor within DOT’s Office of the General Counsel, as an attorney in private practice, and as an intelligence officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency. Syed received his B.A. and J.D. from the University of Virginia. Syed currently resides in Arlington, VA with his wife and two sons.

Patricia L. Ross is a Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), where she has served since 2011. Over the past decade, Ross has led a broad domestic policy portfolio in both the Speaker’s Leadership and Congressional Offices, covering veterans’ affairs and military families, agriculture and nutrition, education and labor. She has spearheaded major bipartisan agreements in these arenas, including the COVID-19 response, CHOICE Act, MISSION Act, Forever GI Bill, Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act, Deborah Sampson Act, Every Student Succeeds Act, 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills, and ending the Widows and Kiddie Tax. As Senior Policy Advisor, Ross has supported and helped coordinate multiple bipartisan traveling Congressional delegations, including the 75th anniversary of the Allied D-Day landings in Normandy and Battle of the Bulge, as well as staffed multiple State of the Union addresses, Inaugurations, and Joint Addresses to Congress by heads of state. Ross is the daughter, granddaughter and niece of Veterans and a native Ohioan. Ross is a graduate of The College of Wooster (Ohio) and currently lives in Washington, D.C. with her partner, also a Veteran, and two dogs.