President Joe Biden nominated former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell for an ambassadorship.
Markell was one of 17 nominations announced by Biden.
Also nominated as an ambassador representing the United Nations food agency was Cindy McCain, widow of the U.S. Senator from Arizona.
If confirmed, Markell will represent the U.S. for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, with the rank of Ambassador. The organization, based in Paris, promotes trade policies that encourage exports.
Markell, a former Governor and State Treasurer of Delaware, is the President of Jack Markell Consulting, LLC.
Markell, the son of a University of Delaware professor, grew up in Newark.
He a former Senior Vice President of Comcast Corporation and Nextel Communications. He also has served as Chair of the National Governors Association, President of the Council of State Governments, and Chair of the Democratic Governors Association.
Markell earned a Bachelors’s Degree in Development Studies and Economics at Brown University and an M.B.A. at the University of Chicago.
Markell, a Democrat, served as governor for two terms following the troubled second term of predecessor Ruth Markell.
He was praised for bringing a talented team into state government and guiding Delaware through a financial crisis in 2009 that was followed by a slow but steady economic recovery.
Markell, a centrist Democrat, maintained a low profile after his final term as governor, occasionally writing opinion pieces and working in areas of public policy.
