Today, in a widely-predicted move, John Berry has been appointed Director of the Office of Presidential Personnel Management, essentially HR director for the federal government. Berry, most recently director of the National Zoo, has a long resume of management jobs in the executive branch and seems more than qualified for the job of recruiting executive branch appointees and getting them appointed. But he also will be the highest-ranking openly gay official ever. Alyssa Rosenberg reported in January that Berry has been a strong advocate for domestic partner benefits in the past and will likely be a force to provide them throughout the entire federal bureaucracy, a major step forward for the government, which has not yet matched the private sector in acknowledging the need for equal benefits. Under the Bush administration, OPM opposed legislation that would have given federal employees domestic partnership benefits, but when the issue comes up again observers expect OPM to support the change. Berry's bio is after the jump.
-- Tim Fernholz