Update at 2:25 p.m. ET. It's Official:
Praising Sally Jewell as an executive who turned outdoors equipment retailer REI into one of the nation's most successful and environmentally conscious companies, President Obama just said he is nominating her to be his next interior secretary.
Noting that Jewell, who in a previous job worked as an engineer for Mobil, has also climbed mountains in Antarctica, the president joked about that being "just not something I think of doing."
Our original post:
Sally Jewell, CEO of the outdoors equipment retailer REI, is President Obama's choice to be the next secretary of interior, according to reports from The Associated Press and other news outlets.
She would succeed Secretary Ken Salazar, who announced last month that he would be departing.
Jewell, AP writes, joined REI in 2000. Before that she "worked in commercial banking and as an engineer for Mobil Oil Corp."
The president is expected to make the news official Wednesday afternoon at the White House.
Jewell has been to the White House before, at an event about the America's Great Outdoors initiative and at a discussion of innovative corporate approaches to health care.
In other news related to the Obama cabinet's comings and goings, the Council on Foreign Relations says that departing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is joining the organization as a senior fellow.
The president has nominated his chief of staff, Jacob "Jack" Lew, to succeed Geithner at Treasury.
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