Commerce Names 3 BIS Staffers

The Commerce Department on Feb. 26 announced three new staffing appointments to the Bureau of Industry and Security. Steven Emme, a former Akin Gump trade counsel, was named chief of staff; Sahar Hafeez, a former Pillsbury Winthrop trade lawyer, was named senior adviser to the BIS undersecretary; and Feras Sleiman, a former policy adviser to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was named BIS's congressional affairs specialist.

Emme previously worked at BIS as senior adviser to Kevin Wolf, a former agency assistant secretary for export administration who is now an export control lawyer at Akin Gump. Wolf said earlier this month that he had not been contacted by the administration about BIS’s undersecretary role (see 2102090060) and said in a Feb. 26 email that he had no new information.