Biden Appoints Out Indian-American to Key Post

President-elect Joe Biden has appointed Gautam Raghavan, an out Indian-American, as Deputy Director of the Office of Presidential Personnel, media sources report.

Raghavan, who currently serves on Biden's transition team as Deputy Head of Presidential Appointments, will help lead a key office tasked with "identifying, recruiting and vetting the more than 4,000 political appointments across the federal government," noted the Victory Institute, which works to LGBTQ visibility and representation in policymaking.

"As a member of the President-elect's transition team, Raghavan has worked with LGBTQ Victory Institute's Presidential Appointments Initiative on its efforts to ensure qualified out LGBTQ people are appointed throughout the new administration," the Victory Institute said in a press release. "His appointment was hailed by Victory Institute as another strong indicator of the administration's commitment to diversity."

The post will mark a return to the White House for Raghavan, who "previously served as the associate director of the Office of Public Liaison in the Obama administration," Wikipedia notes, a position in which he served "as a liaison to both the LGBT and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities from 2011 to 2014."

Raghavan is also "former chief of staff to Representative Pramila Jayapal," recalled the Hindustan times.

Born in India, Raghavan grew up in Seattle before attending Stanford University. After graduating from Stanford, he earned a post-graduate degree in political management at George Washington University.

Raghavan was one of a number of choices announced to fill spots in Biden's White House Senior Staff, reports news service ANI. Another Indian-American appointee, Vinay Reddy, will serve as Director of Speechwriting.

Moreover, "Anne Filipic has been named as Director of Management and Administration, Ryan Montoya as Director of Scheduling and Advance, Bruce Reed as Deputy Chief of Staff, and Elizabeth Wilkins as Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff," ANI reported.

Biden said in an announcement of his most recent picks that the individuals joining his administration will "carry out policies that will put our nation on a path to building back better than ever before."

Added the president-elect: "They are respected leaders whose values and priorities align with my own and who will dutifully execute their roles to serve the American people."

Raghavan's appointment follows news that Biden has nominated Pete Buttigieg, the out former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, for the post of Secretary of Transportation.

Late last month Biden named out event planner and former White House staffer Carlos Elizondo to serve as White House social secretary.