This profile contains Biden Administration nominations and appointments made at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Nominations and Appointments

Michele Chang was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Policy at the U.S. Economic Development Administration until 2022.¹ Before that, she was executive director of the Rework America Business Network at the Markle Foundation. During the Obama Administration, she served as acting chief of staff and deputy chief of staff at the U.S. Small Business Administration. Before that, she worked at McKinsey & Company, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Hope Street Group.²

Don Graves is Deputy Secretary of Commerce. He was most recently Head of Corporate Responsibility and Community Relations at KeyBank until September 2020.³ Prior to joining KeyBank, Graves was a Counselor and Domestic and Economic Policy Director for then-Vice President Joe Biden. He was also appointed by the Obama Administration as Executive Director of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Small Business, Community Development and Housing Policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.⁴ He is also the former Director of Public Policy for the Business Roundtable.⁵ Graves has served as a board member at the Community Reinvestment Fund, USA, the MetroHealth Foundation,⁶, the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware,⁷ and Jumpstart.⁸

Leslie Kiernan is General Counsel of the Department of Commerce. She was formerly the founder and managing partner at Kiernan PLLC.⁹ During the Obama Administration, she served as Deputy Counsel to the President from 2011 to 2014, and as a senior advisor to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.¹⁰ She has served as a member of the boards of the Children’s Law Center, the Children’s National Medical Center, and the D.C. Public Defender Service.¹¹

Gina Raimondo is Secretary of Commerce. She most recently served as the 75th Governor of Rhode Island.¹² Before that, she served as the state’s Treasurer from 2011-2015, and co-founded the venture capital firm Point Judith Capital.¹³

Robert Santos is Director of the U.S. Census Bureau. He most recently served as vice president and chief methodologist at the Urban Institute. He has held leadership positions at the University of Michigan Survey Research Center and at NORC at the University of Chicago. He has served on the National Center for Health Statistics board of scientific counselors, the editorial board of Public Opinion Quarterly, and on the boards of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, the Washington Statistical Society, and the American Statistical Association.¹⁴

1. “Michele Chang to Join Strada Education Network as Chief Strategy Officer.” PR Newswire. October 25, 2022. Available at: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/michele-chang-to-join-strada-education-network-as-chief-strategy-officer-301659226.html
2. “Leadership.” U.S. Economic Development Administration. Accessed August 9, 2021. Available at: https://eda.gov/about/leadership/
3. Miller, Ben. “Eric Fiala Named Head of Corporate Responsibility at KeyBank.” Cleveland Business Journal. Accessed January 8, 2021. https://www.bizjournals.com/cleveland/news/2020/11/19/eric-fiala-named-head-of-corporate-responsibility.html
4. “Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion: Don Graves.” FDIC.gov. Accessed January 8, 2021. https://www.fdic.gov/about/comein/bio-member/graves.html
5. “President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness: Staff.” Obama White House. Accessed January 8, 2021. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/administration/advisory-boards/jobs-council/about/staff
6. “Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion: Don Graves.” FDIC.gov. Accessed January 8, 2021. https://www.fdic.gov/about/comein/bio-member/graves.html
7. “Don Graves.” Biden Institute. Accessed January 8, 2021. https://www.bidenschool.udel.edu/bideninstitute/about/Dgraves
8. “KeyBank Executive Don Graves Takes Vice-Chair Position on Jumpstart Board of Directors.” Jumpstartinc.org. Accessed January 8, 2021. https://www.jumpstartinc.org/don-graves-vice-chair/
9. “Leslie B. Kiernan.” Children’s Law Center. Accessed June 14, 2021. Available at: https://www.childrenslawcenter.org/profile/leslie-b-kiernan
10. “President Biden Announces his Intent to Nominate Key Members of his Administration.” The White House. March 15, 2021. Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/15/president-biden-announces-his-intent-to-nominate-key-members-of-his-administration/
11. “Leslie B. Kiernan.” Children’s Law Center. Accessed June 14, 2021. Available at: https://www.childrenslawcenter.org/profile/leslie-b-kiernan
12. “Economy Nominees and Appointees: Governor Gina Raimondo.” Biden-Harris Transition. Accessed January 8, 2021. Available at: https://buildbackbetter.gov/nominees-and-appointees/gina-raimondo/
13. “Gina Raimondo.” Ballotpedia. Accessed January 8, 2021. Available at: https://ballotpedia.org/Gina_Raimondo
14. “Robert Santos.” Urban Institute. Accessed November 23, 2021. Available at: https://www.urban.org/author/robert-santos