Indianapolis – Governor Mike Pence today named Melanie Walker Hart to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) Board of Directors, effective immediately. She will replace Jim Schellinger, now president of the IEDC, and serve the remainder of his four-year term which expires in March 2017.

Hart currently serves as chief executive officer of Japan-based Tsuchiya Group North America and as the president of its five subsidiary companies, which together employ more than 500 associates. This includes TASUS Corporation in Bloomington, which was established in 1989 as the company’s first operation in North America and manufactures plastic interior and exterior automotive parts. Hart was named president of TASUS Corporation in 1994, and is the first and youngest female president of a Japanese owned manufacturing company in North America. Under her tenure, the company added three additional operations in Texas, Alabama and Ontario and established a headquarters in Bloomington.

Hart has more than 30 years of global industry management experience, having held previous positions with Schlegel Corporation and Mobil Oil and Chemical, and is an active member of both the Bloomington community and the state. She was named president of the Japan-America Society of Indiana this year and was appointed to the State of Indiana Workforce Innovation Council. Additional professional affiliations and board positions include Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Credit Union, U.S. Department of Commerce Select USA Summit, Ditchley Foundation, Susie’s Place Child Advocacy Center, Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, Bloomington Economic Development Corporation, Monroe County Community Foundation and the American Heart Association Executive Leadership Team.

Hart earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University, and has been an Indiana resident for 26 years.

Gov. Mike Pence is vowing to maintain Indiana’s sanctions on Iran despite an expected loosening of federal trade restrictions with the aspiring nuclear power.

In separate letters sent Monday to President Barack Obama and the Hoosier congressional delegation, the Republican governor detailed his opposition to the president’s Iran nuclear deal.

“It will not make the United States or our most cherished ally, Israel, safer,” Pence said. “Instead, it promises Iran a lifting of United States nuclear-related sanctions for an agreement on Iran’s nuclear weapons program that will only halt its ambitions temporarily, rather than permanently dismantle its nuclear desires.”

Nevertheless, Pence said Indiana will continue to prohibit the investment of state-controlled pension funds in Iranian-connected enterprises, as it has since 2009.

In addition, he said state and local government contracts will be denied to companies that annually do more than $20 million in business with Iran’s energy sector, in accordance with a 2012 law sponsored by state Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, and former state Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon, D-Munster.

Pence said he also will work with the Republican-controlled General Assembly during its 2016 session “to examine whether there are any new steps the state can take to bolster our sanctions or show support for Israel.”

State Sen. Vaneta Becker (R-Evansville) announced the Indiana Senate Republicans are offering paid internship opportunities in the Senate’s legislative, legal, policy, communications and information technology offices during the 2016 session of the General Assembly.

Qualified candidates must be college students, recent graduates, or enrolled in graduate or law school. Positions are open to Indiana residents or non-residents who attend a college or university located within the state.

Benefits include a $700 bi-weekly stipend, scholarship opportunities, earned academic credits, resume building, community involvement and networking while working along with more than 40 fellow interns at the Indiana Statehouse located in downtown Indianapolis.

These are partisan, full-time positions that begin with a mandatory orientation in late December and conclude at the end of the legislative session in March 2016.

“This internship program is a unique professional development opportunity,” Becker said. “While fine-tuning communication and time-management skills, interns will gain a better understanding of the General Assembly and the legislative process. I encourage anyone interested in our state government to apply.”

Becker said more information and applications for full-time, spring internships can be found online atwww.IndianaSenateRepublicans.com/intern-program.

The deadline to apply is Oct. 31.