Joe Biden names two more Indian-Americans to top positions

Gautam Raghavan, who was born in India, will be the deputy director of the office of presidential personnel, and Vinay Reddy will be director of speechwriting

US President-elect Joe Biden has named two more Indian-descent Americans to top positions in his administration.

US President-elect Joe Biden introduces key members of the new administration in Wilmington, Delaware, US, on December 19, 2020.(REUTERS)

Gautam Raghavan, who was born in India, will be the deputy director of the office of presidential personnel, and Vinay Reddy will be director of speechwriting.

Raghavan, an Obama White House alumnus and former chief of staff to Representative Pramila Jayapal, will be heading a powerful department that is entrusted with selecting political appointees to federal positions. Every incoming administration has to fill roughly 4,000 such posts.

Reddy, who has worked with Biden since he was vice-president and was on his campaign staff, will be head of the team of speechwriters, a very senior position that reflects the president-elect’s close personal equation with him.

Biden announced four more appointments on Tuesday. Anne Filipic, another Obama alumnus, will be director of the office of administration and management that runs the executive wing; Ryan Montoya, a veteran of Clinton and Obama administrations, will be director of scheduling and advance; Bruce Reed, a long-time Biden associate, will be deputy chief of staff; and Elizabeth Wilkins will be senior adviser to the chief of staff.

“These experienced individuals are joining my administration to carry out policies that will put our nation on a path to building back better than ever before,” Biden said while announcing the new appointments. “They are respected leaders whose values and priorities align with my own and who will dutifully execute their roles to serve the American people.”

The president-elect Biden had on Monday named Indian-American Bharat Ramamurti, a long-time congressional aide to Senator Elizabeth Warren, as deputy director of the National Economic Council, the key department that advises the American president on domestic and global economic policy.