US President Joe Biden on Wednesday nominated former Hewlett Packard CEO and president Meg Whitman as America’s ambassador to Kenya.
She is likely to replace Kyle McCarter who left in January 2021.
Margaret C. Whitman (Meg), a business executive and former candidate for Governor of California, is a Member of the Board of Procter and Gamble and General Motors, and National Board Chair at Teach for America, White House said in a dispatch.
Whitman spent decades in high-level corporate roles, but she has also been politically active for years.
She ran in 2010 as a Republican for governor in California but lost to Democrat Jerry Brown.
She supported now-Sen. Mitt Romney’s runs for president in 2008 – before she eventually became Sen. John McCain’s national campaign co-chair – and in 2012.
She backed Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 race against Donald Trump.
US media outlets said last year, she gave $500,000 to the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that benefited the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Wealthy donors often get ambassadorships in Democratic and Republican administrations alike.
Data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics shows that well over a dozen Obama campaign supporters became ambassadors during his administration.
In announcing Biden’s selection of Whitman, the White House noted her extensive business background.Before she ran Hewlett-Packard, Whitman was the CEO of e-commerce giant eBay.
Whitman eventually became the CEO of Quibi, a short-lived, short-form video platform that was founded by Hollywood executive Jeffrey Katzenberg.
