Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack named Daniel Whitley, a veteran of the Foreign Agricultural Service, to be FAS administrator on Wednesday. Whitley has been the acting chief of the agency, which tracks food and agriculture issues worldwide and promotes U.S. agriculture.
Whitley has worked at the FAS for 20 years and was the associate administrator in charge of trade policy and market analysis before being named acting administrator in December 2020. He began his USDA career with the Economic Research Service, where he focused on market access issues at the WTO. Whitley holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural science.
The USDA also named Michael Amato as director of communications. He was part of the Biden transition team, and during the Obama era, he was communications director for the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the U.S. civil service.