Shiner tapped for post at State

From combined dispatches

President Bush yesterday nominated Josette Shiner, the deputy U.S. trade representative, to be undersecretary of state for economic, business and agricultural affairs.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mrs. Shiner will take the position vacated by Alan Larson, who has resigned. She is a former managing editor of The Washington Times.

Her nomination follows the transfer of Robert B. Zoellick, who became deputy secretary of state in February after serving as U.S. trade representative. Mrs. Shiner is expected to work with Mr. Zoellick to press forward multilateral trade negotiations under the World Trade Organization. She recently participated in trade talks in Beijing.

In her previous jobs in U.S. trade policy, which also included associate trade representative for policy and communications, Mrs. Shiner helped direct the U.S. preparation and participation in the WTO talks in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001. She participated in the negotiations that brought China and Taiwan into the WTO.

Mrs. Shiner worked with the Wall Street-based technology firm Starpoint Solutions, and left The Times to become president of Empower America, a research organization created by prominent conservatives, including former U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp and drug czar William Bennett.

Mrs. Shiner was a newspaperwoman for more than 20 years. She was deputy managing editor of The Washington Times from 1985 to 1992, and was promoted to managing editor of The Times, a position she held until 1997. She had wide experience overseas, and interviewed several heads of state, conducting one of the last interviews with Kim Il-sung, the longtime strongman in North Korea, in 1992.

Mrs. Shiner, 51, was born in Orange, N.J. She received her bachelor in arts degree from the University of Colorado in 1976.