Higginbottom picked as deputy director at OMB

Heather Higginbottom has been selected as deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, and the General Services’ Administration’s Teresa Nasif will head a new Senior Executive Service initiative, officials announced.

President Barack Obama said he intends to nominate Higginbottom, deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council, as deputy director of OMB, Jacob Lew, OMB director, announced Jan. 7 on the White House Blog.

She would replace Rob Nabors, who had been temporarily serving as OMB's deputy director while on leave from his post in the West Wing.

Higginbottom previously was policy director for Obama’s campaign and served as a top aide to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) for eight years. She also founded and directed the American Security Project think tank.

Higginbottom holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Rochester and a master’s degree in public policy from George Washington University.

“Heather has a passion for her work and has demonstrated throughout her career a dedication to sound public policy that makes a difference in people’s lives,” Lew wrote.

In another change, Teresa Nasif has been named as the head of the GSA’s Executive Resources Office, where she will lead transformation programs for GSA’s Senior Executive Service, according to Robert Lesino, a GSA spokesman.

Nasif will help to implement the SES Reform Initiative Implementation Plan that was recently issued by the President's Management Council, OMB, and the Office of Personnel Management, Lesino said.

Nasif previously was the director of the Federal Citizen Information Center at the GSA. Bev Godwin was named the new director of the center on Jan. 3.