Obama appoints Indian American lawyer to key administration post

Indian American lawyer Preeta Bansal, who was an adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaign before serving in the administration, has been appointed to a key administration post.

Preeta Bansal has been appointed Member of the Advisory Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States, the White House said in a statement, which also announced the appointment of Boris Bershteyn to the same position.

"I am proud to appoint such impressive individuals to these important roles, and I am grateful they have agreed to lend their considerable talents to this Administration. I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead," Obama said in a statement.

A rising Democratic rising star, Bansal served as the General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor for the Office of Management and Budget from 2009 to 2011.

In that capacity, she was also a government member of the Council of the Administrative Conference of the US, serving as Vice Chair from 2010 until 2011.

She is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Bansal, who studied at the Harvard Law School, has earlier served as an adviser to Obama's presidential campaign.

Prior to joining the Obama administration, she was a Partner and Head of the Appellate Litigation Practice at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, LLP, in New York City.

She is the former solicitor general of the State of New York and a former law clerk to US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

From 2003 to 2009, while in private law practice, Bansal also served a Commissioner of the bipartisan United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, serving as its Chair from 2004 to 2005.