WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden is nominating Gayle Manchin, the wife of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, to be the co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission, an economic development partnership involving the federal government and 13 states.
Gayle Manchin, 73, has held multiple government positions linked to education in a state where her husband is a political force.
A former teacher, she was on the West Virginia Board of Education from 2007 to 2015 and served a two-year term as its president.
Manchin was also the state's secretary of education and the arts in 2017 and 2018, but was removed from the post by West Virginia Gov.