Nassau, Bahamas - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs takes note of and welcomes the White House announcement today by U.S. President Barak Obama to appoint Cassandra Q. Butts to the post of Ambassador to The Commonwealth of The Bahamas. 

“This announcement by U.S. President Obama is welcomed news and we look forward to a continued good and cordial working relationship with the United States,” said Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell.

Ms. Butts' appointment to The Bahamas is subject to ratification by the United States Senate.

Cassandra Q. Butts is currently a Senior Advisor to the CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, where she chairs the Investment Management Committee.  Prior to that, she served as Deputy White House Counsel to President Obama and General Counsel to the Obama-Biden Transition Project.  From 2004 to 2008, Ms. Butts served as Senior Vice President for Domestic Policy at the Center for American Progress.  From 2002 to 2004, she served as Counsel and Policy Director to House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt and as Deputy Executive Director of the Democratic Policy Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1996 to 2002.  She has worked as an Associate Counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense Fund, as a Legislative Assistant for U.S. Senator Harris Wofford, and as a Fellow for the National Health Law Program in Washington, D.C.  She is a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a past recipient of the Georgetown Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship.  Ms. Butts received a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.