In Transition

National Zoo director John Berry is expected to be named to head the Office of Personnel Management in the Obama administration.

Berry, a former long-time aide to House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, held a long list of top jobs in the Clinton administration’s Interior Department, the Smithsonian Institution and at the congressionally chartered National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Hoyer said today his former aide, who worked for the Maryland Democrat for more than a decade, is an excellent choice to head OPM.

“John Berry comes to the job with almost three decades of dealing with federal employee issues,” said Hoyer, who has been a leader in legislation concerning the vast federal workforce. “I think federal employees should be very glad and positive” about Berry’s nomination, which Hoyer indicated would soon be announced by the Obama transition team.

— Edward Epstein