Obama to tap San Antonio's Castro as new HUD chief

WASHINGTON–President Barack Obama returns here from Chicago on Friday and in the afternoon will make it official, a White House offical confirmed on Thursday night. The president is moving HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan to be the Director of the Office of Management Budget and nominating San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro to replace him.

Donovan, at the HUD post since the beginning of the Obama administration, is replacing departing OMB chief Sylvia Burwell, who is replacing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelious.

Below, from the White House….

Biography of Secretary Donovan:

Shaun Donovan is currently the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a position he has held since January of 2009. In this role, he manages the Department’s $47 billion budget which helps families buy homes, aids households in fighting off foreclosure, revitalizes distressed communities and combats homelessness. In addition, as Chair of the Hurricane Sandy Task Force, he led efforts to help the Northeast region recover and build a more resilient future. From 2004 to 2008, Secretary Donovan served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development where he created and implemented the New Housing Marketplace Plan to build and preserve 165,000 affordable homes.

Previously, Secretary Donovan managed federal lending and affordable housing investments for Prudential Mortgage Capital Company, and was a consultant to the Millennial Housing Commission on strategies for increasing the production of multifamily housing. During the Clinton administration, he served as HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing. Early in his career, Secretary Donovan researched housing policy at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies and New York University’s Furman Center. Mr. Donovan received a B.A., and Masters degrees in Public Administration and Architecture from Harvard University.

Biography of Mayor Castro:

Julián Castro is currently in his third term as Mayor of San Antonio, a position to which he was first elected in 2009 and most recently re-elected in 2013. In this role, he has worked to revitalize the city’s urban core through the implementation of the East Side Promise Zone, by initiating the “Decade of Downtown,” and approving a series of incentives to encourage inner city investment. Previously, Mayor Castro started a law practice, The Law Offices of Julian Castro, PLLC, in 2005. From 2001 to 2005, Mayor Castro served two terms on the San Antonio City Council. During his time on the City Council, Mayor Castro was also an attorney in private practice from 2000 to 2005. Mayor Castro received a B.A. from Stanford University in 1996, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2000.