David J. Hayes is an American attorney and legal scholar who serves in the Biden Administration as Special Assistant to the President for Climate Policy. Hayes has led White House work on clean energy deployment issues, climate resilience and greenhouse gas emission reduction and carbon sequestration initiatives. Hayes also has assisted in developing and implementing the climate-related provisions included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Thomas Brennan Nolan was an American geologist who was director of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) from 1956 to 1965. The mineral nolanite is named in his honor and he was an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the United States National Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He was generally known as Tom Nolan.
Vincent Ellis McKelvey was an American geologist and earth scientist. Recognized as an international authority on deep-sea mineral deposits, he spent 46 years with the United States Geological Survey. From 1968 to 1982, he served as scientific adviser and senior deputy to the United States delegation to the Law of the Sea Conference of the United Nations, where fellow delegates often depended on his ability to render complex scientific issues into plain English.
Barack Obama assumed office as the 44th president of the United States on January 20, 2009, and his term ended on January 20, 2017. The president has the authority to nominate members of his Cabinet to the United States Senate for confirmation under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March 3, 1879, to study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The agency also makes maps of extraterrestrial planets and moons based on data from U.S. space probes.
Michael Lee Connor is an American politician, lawyer and engineer. He had served as the United States Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, and served as the United States Deputy Secretary of the Interior from 2014 to 2017, among other positions in United States Department of the Interior.
Mary Catherine "Molly" Phee is an American diplomat who had served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs. She previously served as the U.S. ambassador to South Sudan from 2015 to 2017. She is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of minister counselor.
Carmen G. Cantor is an American diplomat who served as the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Insular Affairs from 2022 to 2025. She previously served as the United States ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia.
Joe Biden assumed office as the 46th president of the United States on January 20, 2021, and his term ended on January 20, 2025. The president has the authority to nominate members of his Cabinet to the United States Senate for confirmation under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.
David M. Turk is an American attorney who served as the United States deputy secretary of energy in the Biden administration from 2021 to 2025.
Tommy P. Beaudreau is an American politician who served as the deputy secretary of the Interior from 2021 to 2023. He served as the first director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management from 2011 to 2014 and as chief of staff of the United States Department of the Interior from 2014 until the end of the Obama administration.
Frank A. Rose served as the Principal Deputy Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration in the Biden administration from August 2021 to April 2024. From 2018 to 2021, he was co-director of the Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology at the Brookings Institution. Previously Rose served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance, and Implementation in the Obama administration from December 2014 to January 2017.
Shannon Aneal Estenoz is an American environmental activist and government official who served as assistant secretary of the interior for fish and wildlife and parks in the Biden administration from 2021 to 2025.
Michael J. Adler is an American diplomat who has served as the United States ambassador to South Sudan since 2022.
Marvin L. Adams is a nuclear engineer and computational physicist. Since April 2022, he has served as Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in the Biden administration.
The director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is responsible for direction and leadership of the agency. Within the director's office are the deputy director, who assists the director in coordination of the USGS; and eight associate directors, each overseeing a particular program, who report to the director. The director is typically sworn in by the Secretary of the Interior—for example, Bruce Babbitt swore in Charles Groat, and Deb Haaland swore in David Applegate.
