Obama picks another Chicagoan

by John McCormick

President Barack Obama has picked another Chicagoan for an ambassador post, selecting the head of a Chicago public affairs firm to be the U.S. Representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture.

Named to the post on Friday was Chicago native Ertharin Cousin, an Obama family friend who served as a senior adviser during the campaign. She is currently the president of The Polk Street Group and has been a national leader in the domestic hunger relief.

The White House said Cousin has also served as "one of the leading African American corporate executives in the retail food community."

Cousin has long ties to national Democratic politics and worked as a White House liaison at the State Department during the mid-1990s. Before coming to Washington, she worked as an assistant Illinois attorney general and in local government.

She has also worked in various executive positions for Albertsons Foods, Jewel-Osco food stores and America's Second Harvest, now known as Feeding America.

Born in Chicago, Cousin is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Georgia's law school.

In late May, Obama nominated retired Chicago investment banker Louis Susman to be ambassador to Britain, one of the plum appointments available to the president.