President Obama will name a California utility and energy executive, John E. Bryson, as his second secretary of commerce at the White House on Tuesday afternoon, ending a search for an executive to add a business outlook to his economic team.
Mr. Bryson was chairman and chief executive of Edison International, parent company of Southern California Edison and Edison Mission Group, for nearly two decades until 2008. If confirmed by the Senate, he would replace Gary Locke, a former governor of Washington who is Mr. Obama?s choice to be ambassador to China now that Jon M. Huntsman Jr. has left to weigh a Republican presidential candidacy.
?I am pleased to nominate John Bryson to be our nation?s secretary of commerce, as he understands what it takes for America to succeed in a 21st century global economy,? Mr. Obama said in a statement. ?John will be an important part of my economic team, working with the business community, fostering growth and helping open up new markets abroad to promote jobs and opportunities here at home.?
According to his biography released by the White House, Mr. Bryson is also a director of several major corporations, including Boeing, Walt Disney and Coda Automotive, and is a senior adviser to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. He is chairman of the board of BrightSource Energy, the Public Policy Institute of California and the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California Board of Overseers. He also serves as co-chairman of the Pacific Council on International Policy.
He is a trustee of the California Institute of Technology, a director of the California Endowment and the W. M. Keck Foundation, and serves on the advisory board of Deutsche Bank Americas. Previously Mr. Bryson served on educational, energy and environmental boards, including as a trustee of Stanford University, a member of a United Nations advisory group on energy and climate change, and head of California?s Public Utilities Commission and its State Water Resources Control Board. Early in his career, Mr. Bryson was a founder of the national environmental group the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Among those Mr. Obama was said to be interested in for the commerce job was Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google.