Obama Administration Nominates Apple's VP of Worldwide Government Affairs for State Department Job

Apple's Vice President of Worldwide Government Affairs, Catherine Novelli, has been nominated to serve as Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, according to an announcement from The White House (via AllThingsD).

Catherine Ann Novelli is Vice President of Worldwide Government Affairs at Apple, Inc., a position she has held since 2007. Previously, Ms. Novelli was a partner at Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, LLP from 2005 to 2007. From 1991 to 2005, she served at the Office of the United States Trade Representative and from 1997 to 2005, she was the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and the Mediterranean.

From 1985 to 1991, Ms. Novelli served in the Office of the General Counsel at the Department of Commerce. From 1982 to 1985, she practiced law in the Washington D.C. office of Debovoise and Librman. Ms. Novelli received a B.A. from Tufts University, a J.D. from the University of Michigan, and a LL.M. from the University of London.

Novelli, who works in Washington D.C., currently heads up a team at Apple that handles the company’s federal, international, and state government relations. She has been with the company since 2007, and it remains unclear if she will leave her position at Apple to take up the new post.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.