US President Barack Obama on Tuesday named former South Carolina Schools Chief Inez Moore Tenenbaum as Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission ( CPSC).
He also promised to increase the panel's funding in a statement released by the White House.
Tenenbaum co-chaired Obama's South Carolina campaign in last year's presidential elections, and was elected twice as South Carolina's superintendent of education.
If her nomination is confirmed by the Senate, she will replace acting CPSC chairman Nancy Nord, who was appointed to the commission by former President George W. Bush in 2005.
President Obama promised to revitalize the CPSC by increasing its budget to 107 million dollars next year and expanding the commission to five members from three.
The CPSC, with a staff of 430, oversees about 15,000 consumer products in the United States.