Jack Alan Markell, adviser and personal friend of Joe Biden, has been chosen by the U.S. president as the next U.S. ambassador to Italy. Markell’s name was previously circulated as a candidate for White House chief of staff. From 2009 to 2017, Markell served as governor of Delaware, relying on the support of Beau Biden, the president’s eldest son, until his death in 2015.

Beau Biden was the state’s attorney general and had expressed his intention to run for governor in 2016, taking Markell’s seat. The new ambassador is sixty-three years old, a member of the Democratic Party, and most recently served as U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris.