About the Office of Insular Affairs

OIA Staff & Divisions

Doug W. Domenech
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs
Nikolao Pula
Director, Office of Insular Affairs
Tom Bussanich
Director of Budget
Charlene Leizear
Director of Technical Assistance
Joseph McDermott
Director of Policy

Policy & Liaison Division

The Policy & Liaison Division serves several functions as identified below:

Serves as OIA’s liaison to the Congress, the four territorial and three freely associated state governments, other Federal agencies, the media and the public
Oversees (a) the Compact of Free Association trust funds for the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia and (b) annual budgets for two Marshall Islands atoll governments (Bikini and Rongelap)
Advances the rehabilitation of four Marshall Islands atolls (Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap and Utrik) and the resettlement of the peoples of the four atolls
Carries out the Secretary's responsibilities as the civil administrator of the Palmyra Atoll Excluded Areas and, as appropriate, the residual civil administrator of Wake Atoll
Maintains a field office in American Samoa and two field offices in the Northern Mariana Islands; Has field desk officers in the FSM (Pohnpei), Palau, and the Marshall Islands.

Randy Beffrey	Administrative Officer
Ryan Edgar	STEP Intern - FAS Issues and Private Sector Development
Tanya Harris Joshua	Desk Officer for Micronesia (FSM) and Palau; OIA Website
Karen Koltes	Coral Reef Preservation
Joseph McDermott	Director Policy and Desk Officer for American Samoa, the Marshall Islands, Palmyra Atoll's Excluded Areas and Wake Atoll's Residual Administration
Randy Mendoza	OIA Intern
Richard Miller	Trust Funds for Micronesia (FSM) and the Marshall Islands under the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2003
Wali Osman	Economist
Stephen Sander	Legislative Affairs, Trust Funds for Micronesia (FSM) and the Marshall Islands under the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2003
Francisco Taitano	Desk Officer for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands; Press
Marina Tinitali	Accountability Policy & Audits; Desk Officer for American Samoa; Emergency Management Coordinator
Angela Williams	Private Sector Development

Office of Insular Affairs - Policy & Liaison Division
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240
Phone: (202) 208-6816
FAX: (202) 219-1989

Budget Division

This division budgets and accounts for OIA office expenditures and island grants. This division also maintains management for specially appropriated grant programs.

Tom Bussanich, Director
Tom Bussanich - Compact Grants
Jonathan Dunn - CIP - Brown Tree Snake Program
Cheryl Jodoin - OMIP
Faride Komisar - CIP
Charlene Leizear - Finance, Loans, Budget, FBMS, VI Rum Excise Taxes, Guam Section 30 Income Tax Collections, Capital Improvement Program
Annette Stewart - Grant Obligations and Payments, Budget

Field Offices in Hawaii, FSM and Palau report to Budget Division Director

Office of Insular Affairs
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240
Phone: (202) 208-6971
FAX: (202) 208-7585

Technical Assistance Division

The Division of Technical Assistance provides discretionary technical assistance funding to the insular governments, institutions and private firms which fall under OIA jurisdiction.

Charlene Leizear , Director of Technical Assistance
Mary Baltimore, Technical Assistance Coordinator
Merriam Porter, Technical Assistance Coordinator

Office of Insular Affairs
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240
Phone: (202) 208-4707
FAX: (202) 208-1545

OIA's Honolulu Field Office

This office manages Compact II requirements for finance, performance standards and sector grants for the Federated States of Micronesia and Republic of the Marshall Islands.