President Barack Obama has signaled his intention to nominate former Discovery Communications President Judith McHale to a post at the State Department.
In an announcement of a number of new appointments, the president tapped McHale to be Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.
McHale has been active in Democratic politics, including co-chairing the Democratic platform committee at the convention.
In announcing the nomination, the White House described Hale as a "a leading media and communications executive whose career has been devoted to building companies and non-profit organizations dedicated to reaching out to and connecting people around the world." Those included distributing free educadtional materials to students ins Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe via the Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership.
After leaving Discovery in December 2006, she continued that commitment with private equity firm Global Environment Fund, which launched the GEF/Africa Growth Fund to supply capital to small and medium-sized businesses in emerging markets in Africa.
Before joining Discovery, McHale was general counsel for MTV Networks.
