President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Tim Manning to coordinate supply chain management as part of his administration’s COVID-19 response team.
Manning is the former deputy administrator for protection and national preparedness at the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President Obama.
The supply coordinator will organize the federal effort focused on securing, strengthening and ensuring a sustainable pandemic supply chain, working with departments and agencies to ensure there is sufficient personal protective equipment, tests, vaccines and related supplies and equipment, according to the Biden transition team.
Manning was one of a group nine additional members of the White House COVID-19 team response team announced Tuesday. In addition to supply chain management, Biden named coordinators for vaccinations as well as testing.
“To recover from this pandemic, we must take aggressive action to manufacture, distribute and administer vaccines, testing and personal protective equipment in an equitable way,” Biden said. “These individuals are deeply qualified and will restore public trust in the pandemic response by leading with facts, science and integrity.”
Added incoming White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain: “To contain the COVID-19 pandemic, we must implement an aggressive response to slow the spread of the virus, protect frontline workers, and ensure the safe and efficient delivery of treatments and vaccines. This team is deeply qualified to help lead our White House efforts to protect the American people from the virus.”
Manning has spent his entire career focused on managing crises, the Biden transition team noted, serving earlier in his career as the Secretary of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for the State of New Mexico. He also has experience as a firefighter-EMT and rescue mountaineer.
After leaving the Obama Administration in 2017, Manning has been an advisor and executive with the Pacific Disaster Center, a research center managed by the University of Hawaii. He has also served on the faculty of the Disaster and Emergency Management studies program at Georgetown University.
Related articles: