Obama appoints Preeta Bansal to key administration post

8220;I am proud to appoint such impressive individuals to these important roles,and I am grateful they have agreed to lend their considerable talents to this Administration.

8220;I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead,8221; Obama said in a statement.

A rising Democratic rising star,Bansal served as the General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor for the Office of Management and Budget from 2009 to 2011.

In that capacity,she was also a government member of the Council of the Administrative Conference of the US,serving as Vice Chair from 2010 until 2011.

She is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Bansal,who studied at the Harvard Law School,has earlier served as an adviser to Obama8217;s presidential campaign.

Prior to joining the Obama Administration,she was a Partner and Head of the Appellate Litigation Practice at Skadden,Arps,Slate,Meagher and Flom,LLP,in New York City.

She is the former Solicitor General of the State of New York and a former law clerk to US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

From 2003 to 2009,while in private law practice,Bansal also was a Commissioner of the bipartisan United States Commission on International Religious Freedom,serving as its Chair from 2004 to 2005.