MHA grad is one of four Tulanians joining Biden administration
Clockwise from top left: Danielle Conley, Dr. Rachel Levine, Shalanda Young and Cedric Richmond. (Graphic by Marianna Barry)
The new administration of President Joseph Biden has among its appointees four Tulane alumni.
Shalanda Young, who earned a Master of Health Administration from the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in 2001, has been selected by President Biden to serve as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Young has vast knowledge of the federal spending process after 14 years on the Appropriations Committee and was the right hand to retired Appropriations Chair Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) as she engaged in high-stakes spending negotiations with Senate Republicans, including during the 2018 government shutdown and the coronavirus pandemic. Young has also helped Biden’s transition team with Capitol Hill outreach as he looks to secure votes for the nearly $2 trillion pandemic relief package unveiled Thursday night. Promoted to staff director of the committee in 2017, Young was the first Black woman to serve in the post.
“While I regret that the Appropriations Committee will lose Shalanda from our staff, I know that the Biden Administration, the Congress, and the country will benefit from Shalanda’s service with the Office of Management and Budget," House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said. "I look forward to working closely with her in this new and important role.”*
Danielle Conley, who graduated with a BA in English and African and African Diaspora Studies from Newcomb College of Tulane University in 2000, has been appointed deputy counsel to the president, a senior staff appointment.
Dr. Rachel Levine, who earned her MD from Tulane School of Medicine in 1983, has been nominated by President Biden as assistant health secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services. Levine is currently health secretary for the state of Pennsylvania and a pediatrics and psychiatry professor at Penn State College of Medicine. If confirmed to the post at DHHS, Levine will be the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the United States Senate.
Cedric Richmond, who received his JD from Tulane Law School in 1998, has been named senior advisor and director of the Office of Public Engagement by President Biden. Richmond is leaving his U.S. House seat representing Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District, which he has held for six terms since 2011.
