For the past five years, Raj Shah has been at the center of my Administration’s efforts to advance our global development agenda as the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). To be sure, his tasks have never been easy—responding to natural disasters, epidemics, and famine, to name just a few examples. But Raj, the son of proud Indian immigrants, has embodied America’s finest values by proactively advancing our development priorities, including ending global poverty, championing food security, promoting health and nutrition, expanding access to energy sources, and supporting political and economic reform in closed societies.

Raj’s leadership and counsel will be missed, but I join his USAID colleagues and Administration counterparts in wishing him well as he embarks on a new chapter.