Passengers board an Amtrak train at Harrisburg’s station. (Capital-Star/Peter Hall)
President Donald Trump announced the nominations of several Pennsylvanians to serve in his administration, including the former head of the state’s Republican Party.
Rob Gleason, who was the chair of Pennsylvania’s Republican Party from 2006-2017, was named to the Amtrak Board of Directors. He would serve a five-year term. Gleason, a longtime resident of western Pennsylvania, has been an advocate for expanding rail service.
He led the Pennsylvania Republican Party during Trump’s successful first campaign for president in 2016 and supported the GOP nominee against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. He was supposed to be part of an alternate slate of electors, as the former president attempted to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in 2020, but “refused to come to Harrisburg” to be a part of it, according to ABC27. Gleason was one of the 19 electors for Trump in 2024 after his second successful campaign for the presidency.
John Jovanovic, who previously led the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), was nominated to be President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. He received a master’s degree in finance and management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, the Serbian Times reports. He is the son-in-law of Dr. Mehmet Oz, the former Pennsylvania GOP candidate for U.S. Senate who Trump previously selected to serve as the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Jovanovic’s term would expire Jan. 20, 2029, according to the White House.
David Metcalf was nominated to serve as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for a term of four years. LNP | LancasterOnline reported on March 7 that Metcalf, who previously served as an assistant to the U.S. attorney in Pennsylvania’s Eastern District, was nominated to originally serve on an interim basis, following the departure of former U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero in February.
Sean Plankey was nominated to serve as the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security. He has a Masters of Science, Computers and Information Technology from the University of Pennsylvania and a veteran of the Pennsylvania National Guard and U.S. Coast Guard.
Plankey served during Trump’s first administration as principal deputy assistant secretary of the Energy Department’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency response, and was reportedly considered to be nominated to this role back in January by POLITICO.