Obama nominates new senior Interior official

President Obama said he will nominate an Interior Department employee to be promoted to one of the agency’s most senior positions.

Kristen Sarri, currently the department’s principal deputy assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, will be tapped to move up to the assistant secretary for policy, management and budget position.

{mosads}If confirmed by the Senate, Sarri would oversee Interior’s $12 billion budget, human resources for its 70,000 employees and various other administrative and programmatic matters.

She has been doing that for the last three months on an acting basis, Interior said, since Rhea Suh left to become president of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“Kris is a great asset for the Interior Department,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said said in a Thursday statement. “She is a strong leader with the vision and experience to work with Congress and to make progress on key initiatives related to energy, conservation and tribal issues.”

Prior to her work at Interior, Sarri worked in various senior roles at the White House Office of Management and Budget, the Commerce Department and Democratic offices in the Senate, the White House said.

In the same set of nomination announcements, Obama said he would nominate Kristen Kulinowski to serve on the Chemical Safety Board, which investigates major chemical accidents and incidents.

Kulinowski is currently a researcher at the Institute for Defense Analyses and a professor at Rice University. She’s previously worked for Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).