Fresh off completion of another White House role, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has been tapped to serve the Biden administration again as a member of the President’s Export Council.
Ms. Bottoms served as director of the Office of Public Engagement and a senior adviser to Mr. Biden until April of this year.
She was tapped Friday for the volunteer position on the council, which operates under the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration and bills itself as the “principal national advisory committee on international trade.”
The council “advises the President of government policies and programs that affect U.S. trade performance; promotes export expansion; and provides a forum for discussing and resolving trade-related problems among the business, industrial, agricultural, labor, and government sectors.”
The council’s charter stipulates that it also includes the leaders of a variety of federal agencies or their appointed representatives, one each from the National Governors Association and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and five members from each house of the Congress.
In addition, the council is composed of up to 28 private-sector leaders, currently including the CFO of Ford Motor Co. and chief executives from Land O’Lakes, CVS, 3M, Citi and FedEx, along with other high-level leaders in business, education and labor. See members here
The council has two scheduled meetings a year, though the chair and the Commerce secretary can call for additional meetings.
Fox News reported that the one-term Atlanta mayor, who decided not to seek re-election in 2021, will succeed on the export council Cedric Richmond, the same Democratic adviser she followed in her first White House role.
Mr. Biden, who has sought to shape foreign and trade policy in a way that benefits middle-class America, focused in the White House’s on Ms. Bottoms’ achievements around equity issues in announcing her appointment.
“Serving as Mayor of Atlanta in the midst of a global pandemic and racial justice movement, Bottoms proved herself to be a highly respected leader and voice,” a statement from the White House reads. “During one of the worst economic downturns in history, Bottoms led her Administration in proactively dealing with the impact of the COVID-19, successfully delivering four years of balanced budgets without resorting to property tax increases, layoffs or furloughs of City employees.”
Read the full statement on Ms. Bottoms here.
On Twitter, Ms. Bottoms said she was honored by the appointment and clarified in the wake of news reports of her new “job” that the appointment was more of a “role,” but “it’s still a big deal!”
I am honored to be appointed a member of the President’s Export Council. https://t.co/hoHdzVNWpl pic.twitter.com/9MGgEgRpvz
— Keisha Lance Bottoms (@KeishaBottoms) July 14, 2023
Atlanta previously had informal representation on the council when then-United Parcel Service Inc. CEO Scott Davis served as a member in 2010.
The most recent meeting of the council was held June 29.
