Las Vegas woman selected for Obama’s transition team

WASHINGTON -- Rose McKinney-James, a longtime Las Vegas business and political figure, lobbyist and renewable energy consultant, is part of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team.

McKinney-James is leading a group reviewing the operations of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to help the Obama administration get off to a fast start after the inauguration, the office of the president-elect announced.

More than 100 agencies and federal departments are being scoured by transition advisers in the weeks leading to the Jan. 20 Obama swearing-in.

McKinney-James was among a dozen people announced by the Obama transition team to review energy and natural resource agencies.

The Nevadan, who has started on the transition job, could not be reached for comment Monday night. A message on her answering machine suggested she would be on her job about a month.

An early Obama supporter in the state, McKinney-James is managing principal of Energy Works Consulting LLC, a renewable energy concern, and McKinney-James and Associates, a government affairs firm.

McKinney-James, 56, served a five-year tenure on the Nevada Public Service Commission during the administration of Gov. Bob Miller. She ran for lieutenant governor in 1998 but lost to Republican Lorraine Hunt.

She has represented the Clark County School District, Barrick Gold and the Caucus of African-American Nevadans as a lobbyist at the Nevada Legislature.

She also serves on a number of boards, including those of MGM-Mirage, Employers Insurance Group, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy and the Nature Conservancy.