President Biden Announces 3 Key Nominees

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

• Reuben Brigety, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of South Africa
• MaryKay Carlson, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of the Philippines
• Elizabeth Shortino, Nominee for United States Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund

Reuben Brigety, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of South Africa

Reuben Brigety currently serves as an Adjunct Senior Fellow for African Peace and Security at the Council on Foreign Relations, and as a Member of the Board of Counselors of McLarty Associates in Washington, D.C. Brigety previously served as the Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of the South and the Mayor of Sewanee, Tennessee. During the Obama-Biden Administration, Brigety held several roles in the State Department, including Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees and Migration, Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, U.S. Ambassador to the African Union and U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Earlier in his career, Brigety was the Special Assistant to the Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University, the largest school of international affairs in the United States. He is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy.

Brigety earned a B.S. from the U. S. Naval Academy, and an M.Phil in International Affairs, and a Ph.D. in International Affairs from the University of Cambridge in England. He is the author of numerous publications and speaks Spanish, French, and Amharic.

MaryKay Carlson, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of the Philippines

MaryKay Loss Carlson, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Previously, she worked as Deputy Chief of Mission in New Delhi, India for three years, including a ten-month stint as Chargé d’Affaires a.i. Prior to that, she held the position of Principal Deputy Executive Secretary on the staff of the Secretary of State in Washington, D.C. A Foreign Service officer since 1985, she has also served at U.S. diplomatic missions in China (twice), Ukraine, Hong Kong, Mozambique, Kenya, and the Dominican Republic. Her domestic assignments include Director of the Secretary’s Executive Secretariat Staff and Deputy Director of Korean Affairs. Carlson has received numerous performance awards, including six Superior Honor Awards.

A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Carlson has a Bachelor’s Degree from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, and holds Master’s Degrees from Georgetown University and the National War College. She speaks Spanish and Chinese. 

Elizabeth Shortino, Nominee for United States Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund

Elizabeth Shortino has more than 17 years of experience in public service, and has held positions at the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Treasury, and the Office of the U.S. Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund. While at Treasury, Shortino served as Director of the Middle East North Africa Office and Director of the Office of International Monetary Policy. Since February 2021, Shortino has served as the Acting U.S. Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund.

Shortino holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also holds a Masters in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies with a specialization in Quantitative Methods and Economic Theory. Prior to joining government, Shortino worked as a management consultant for Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, LLC. Shortino lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband and three children.