Obama Nominates Nonprofit Lawyer to Head Employment Commission

President Barack Obama said today he intends to nominate Jacqueline A. Berrien, a longtime nonprofit and foundation worker, as chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Ms. Berrien has served as associate director-counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund since September 2004. She served from 2001 to 2004 as a program officer at the Ford Foundation’s Peace and Social Justice Program, administering grants to promote civic engagement and greater political participation by underrepresented groups.

Earlier positions included assistant counsel at the Legal Defense and Educational Fund and staff lawyer at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union.