Biden nominates Meg Whitman as ambassador to Kenya

President Biden will nominate Meg Whitman to serve as ambassador to Kenya, he announced on Wednesday.

Whitman, the former CEO of Quibi and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, was the Republican nominee for governor of California in 2010, losing to former Gov. Jerry Brown (D).  

She was one of the Republicans who endorsed Biden in his 2020 campaign, including speaking at the Democratic National Convention. Whitman was considered a possible Commerce secretary pick for Biden before he nominated then-Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) in January. 

Whitman was finance co-chair on former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) 2016 presidential campaign, but once he dropped out, she endorsed then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and was very critical of eventual winner Donald Trump.

In 2008, Whitman was on the national finance team for now-Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-Utah) presidential campaign and was a national co-chair on the late Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) campaign after Romney left the race. Her name was floated as a potential Treasury secretary to McCain if he had won and, after she endorsed Romney in 2012, her name was floated as a Cabinet member for him as well. 

She currently is a member of the board of Procter & Gamble and General Motors and is the national board chair at Teach for America. She was head of the short-lived media venture Quibi until the company closed in October of last year. 

She was CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from 2011 to 2017 and before that, was CEO of eBay from 1998 to 2008. She previously had served as president and CEO of Florists’ Transworld Delivery.

Whitman is also a former partner at Bain and Co., and has been in senior leadership positions at Hasbro and the Walt Disney Corporation.