During a press conference on Wednesday, President Barack Obama announced his nomination of Sally Jewell to replace Ken Salazar as the Secretary of the Interior. Salazar recently announced his plans to leave the U.S. Department of the Interior in March.
According to a White House blog, Jewell is currently CEO of outdoor apparel provider REI and has previously worked in the oil industry and as an energy expert in banking. At the conference, Obama explained his choice.
"So even as Sally has spent the majority of her career outside of Washington - where, I might add, the majority of our interior is located - she is an expert on the energy and climate issues that are going to shape our future,” he said. “She is committed to building our nation-to-nation relationship with Indian Country. She knows the link between conservation and good jobs. She knows that there’s no contradiction between being good stewards of the land and our economic progress - that, in fact, those two things need to go hand in hand.”
