President Biden Announces Key Nominees

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

• Shannon A. Estenoz, Nominee to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior, Department of the Interior
• Christopher J. Lamora, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Central African Republic
• David Slayton Meale, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
• Jeffrey Samuel Arbeit, Nominee to be a Judge on the United States Tax Court
• Cathy Fung, Nominee to be a Judge on the United States Tax Court
• Benjamin A. Guider III, Nominee to be a Judge on the United States Tax Court

Shannon A. Estenoz, Nominee to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior, Department of the Interior

Shannon A. Estenoz was confirmed by unanimous consent in 2021 to serve as Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife at the Department of the Interior. As Assistant Secretary, Estenoz oversees the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the Office of Everglades Restoration Initiatives. She also chairs the Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage, and she was appointed to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission by President Joe Biden in 2023.

Estenoz’s career in landscape scale conservation, restoration, public policy, and management spans 26 years including more than seven years as the Department’s Director of Everglades Restoration Initiatives and the Executive Director of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force. Her career also includes leadership roles with The Everglades Foundation, the National Parks Conservation Association, the World Wildlife Fund, the Environmental and Land Use Law Center, and three terms as the National Co-Chair of the Everglades Coalition. Estenoz’s public service includes appointments by three gubernatorial administrations. Estenoz chaired the South Florida Water Management District’s Water Resources Advisory Commission and the Broward County Water Resources Task Force. Estenoz has received numerous awards for her work in conservation including from Friends of the Everglades, Audubon of Florida, the Everglades Coalition, the Florida Wildlife Federation, the Environmental Law Institute, and the Ecological Society of America.

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

Christopher J. Lamora, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Central African Republic

Christopher J. Lamora, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Cameroon. Previously, he was Chargé d’Affaires ad interim at the U.S. Embassy in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana, and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Central Africa and African Security Affairs. In this last role, he also served as the U.S. Representative to the Great Lakes Contact Group. Lamora also held positions as the Director of the Office of Central African Affairs, Deputy Director of the Office of Economic and Regional Affairs, and Desk Officer for the Democratic Republic of Congo, all in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs. Earlier, Lamora was the Director of the Los Angeles Passport Agency, and served overseas at the U.S. embassies in Guatemala City, Guatemala; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Athens, Greece; Bangui, Central African Republic; and the U.S. Consulate General in Douala, Cameroon. Lamora earned his B.S. from Georgetown University in Washington, District of Columbia. His foreign languages are French, Spanish, and Modern Greek.

David Slayton Meale, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

David Meale, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, is currently Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China, where he also served as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim. Prior to this role, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Trade Policy and Negotiations for the Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. He was previously the Bureau’s Director for Sanctions Policy and Implementation. Other positions include Associate Dean for the Leadership and Management School at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington, District of Columbia; Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh; Counselor for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine; Deputy Director of the Office of Monetary Affairs in the Economic Bureau; and additional positions in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Guinea, and Washington. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Meale held positions in corporate finance with Sprint Telecommunications. A native of Virginia, he holds a M.S. from the National Defense University’s Eisenhower School, an MBA from Tulane University, and a B.A. from the University of Delaware. He is the recipient of the Baker-Wilkins Award for Outstanding Deputy Chief of Mission and has studied Chinese, Ukrainian, and French. 

Jeffrey S. Arbeit, Nominee to be a Judge on the United States Tax Court

Jeffrey S. Arbeit is a legislation counsel with the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation. His work focuses primarily on international tax and issues related to financial assets, transactions, and markets. Before joining the staff in 2015, Arbeit was a tax associate at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York and clerked for Judge James S. Halpern at the United States Tax Court. Arbeit received an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law, where he served on the Tax Law Review; a J.D. from Boston University School of Law, where he served on the Boston University Law Review; and a B.A. in History from Brown University, where he rowed on the crew team.

Cathy Fung, Nominee to be a Judge on the United States Tax Court

Cathy Fung is a Deputy Area Counsel at the Office of Chief Counsel (Large Business & International), Internal Revenue Service, where she has held multiple attorney positions since 2009. Previously, Fung worked as a tax controversy and litigation associate at Dewey Ballantine (later Dewey & LeBoeuf) from 2006 to 2009. She also served as an attorney-advisor for Judge Robert A. Wherry of the United States Tax Court from 2004 to 2006. Fung received her J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law in 2003. She received an LL.M. Taxation from New York University School of Law in 2004 and an LL.M. in Securities & Financial Regulation from Georgetown University Law Center in 2006. She received her B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1995. Fung is a California native and a resident of the District of Columbia.

Benjamin A. Guider III, Nominee to be a Judge on the United States Tax Court

Benjamin A. Guider III has over 15 years of experience as a lawyer advising clients with respect to federal low-income housing tax credits, federal and state historic rehabilitation tax credits, tax-exempt bonds, and a variety of other private and public financing sources. He is currently an affordable housing attorney at Longwell Riess, L.L.C. From 2008 to 2023 he was an attorney at Coats Rose Professional Corporation. Guider is a member of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law, as well as a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association and the State Bar of California. He received his J.D. from Tulane University in 2004 and his B.A. from the University of Virginia in 2001.

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