The White House has nominated Dr. J. Scott Angle to be Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Mr. David Vela to be the Director of the National Park Service (NPS) at the Department of Interior (DOI).
Dr. Angle, President and CEO of the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), has a background in heavy metals and their interaction with the environment. He worked for 24 years as a professor of soil science and administrator for the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station and Maryland Cooperative Extension at the University of Maryland. He also served as Dean and Director of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia for 10 years. He is a Fellow at the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America. Dr. Angle earned his Ph.D. in soil microbiology from the University of Missouri.
Mr. Vela has worked at NPS for 28 years and currently serves as the Superintendent of Grand Teton National Park and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway. He has held various park postings within NPS, including at San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, and the George Washington Memorial Parkway. He has also served as Director of the NPS Southeast Region and Associate Director for Workforce, Relevancy, and Inclusion in the NPS headquarters in Washington, DC. Mr. Vela has a B.S. in recreation and parks from the Texas A&M University.