Obama nominates deputies for VA, Navy

President Barack Obama on Sept. 10 announced nominations for high-level positions in the departments of Veterans Affairs and Navy, potentially filling roles that have been vacant since spring.

At the Defense Department, Obama nominated Jo Ann Rooney as Navy undersecretary. Rooney serves managing director at the Huron Consulting Group in Chicago, a position she has held since 2012.

In 2011 and 2012, Rooney was the principal deputy undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, where she oversaw military readiness and acted as the deputy senior policy advisor to the Defense Secretary on recruitment, career development, pay and benefits for roughly 3.5 million military and civilian personnel. She also has a background in academia and the private sector, with a doctorate in education from the University of Pennsylvania and law degrees from Boston University and Suffolk University, according to her DOD bio.

Rooney would replace Robert Work, who stepped down as Navy undersecretary in March after four years in the position.

At the VA, Sloan Gibson, president and CEO of the United Services Organization, was nominated as deputy secretary at the VA. Gibson has been at the USO since 2008. Prior to that, he spent two decades in the banking industry, according to his USO bio. The 1975 West Point graduate earned both Airborne and Ranger qualifications and served as an Army infantry officer. Gibson is a graduate of the University of Missouri and Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Gibson would succeed Scott Gould, who resigned May 17 amid an exodus of top VA officials that included Chief of Staff John Gingrich, CIO Roger Baker and CTO Peter Levin. The departures came amid troubles at the VA, particularly related to its IT operations.

Both nominees face Senate confirmation.