WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 16, 2014) — The White House Office of the Press Secretary reports that President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Nina Hachigian as the Representative of the United States of America to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
If confirmed Hachigian will have the Rank of Ambassador, under the Department of State.
The announcement came along with nominations for Shamina Singh as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service; Matthew Tueller as the Ambassador to the Republic of Yemen; and Gustavo Velasquez as Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“I am honored that these talented individuals have decided to join this Administration and serve our country,” Obama said. “I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come.”
Hachigian is currently a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, a position she has held since 2008. From 2007 to 2008, she was Senior Vice President and Director for California at the Center.
Hachigian worked as Senior Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation from 2005 to 2006, and as Director at the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy from 2001 to 2005. Prior to that, she was an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations at the Pacific Council on International Policy.
From 1998 to 1999, Hachigian served as Executive Assistant to the Deputy National Security Advisor in the White House, and before that she worked as an advisor to the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. She was an associate at O’Melveny and Myers in Los Angeles from 1995 to 1997, and formerly a Judicial Clerk to Judge Harry Pregerson at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Hachigian is the author of several books related to foreign policy and is a member of the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board. She received a B.S. from Yale University and a J.D. from Stanford University Law School.