President Joe Biden on Wednesday named Meg Whitman, his choice to serve as U.S. ambassador to Kenya.
Whitman ran for governor of California in 2010 as a Republican but lost to Jerry Brown. But she endorsed Biden in the 2020 presidential race and appeared at the Democratic National Convention.
In her speech, Whitman said that she was “a longtime Republican and a longtime CEO” and that “Donald Trump has no clue how to run a business, let alone an economy.” Whitman also endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016.
“Kenya is a strategic partner of the United States, and if confirmed, I look forward to working with the Kenyan government on a wide variety of issues to advance peace, prosperity and health in the country and throughout the region,” Whitman said in a statement obtained by Reuters
Her nomination has to be confirmed by the Senate, where there is a long backlog of ambassadorial picks awaiting the go-ahead to move to their posts.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has yet to hold a hearing on Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s nomination to be ambassador to India.
Whitman also is a member of the board of Procter & Gamble and General Motors, and national board chair of Teach for America.
She also has been an executive at The Walt Disney Co. and Hasbro. Quibi, the short-form streaming platform she launched with Jeffrey Katzenberg, launched in April, 2020 but shut down in December of that year.
Whitman also held campaign finance positions on the presidential campaigns of John McCain, Mitt Romney and Chris Christie.