President Barack Obama intends to nominate Lanhee J. Chen, research fellow at the Hoover Institution and top policy adviser for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, as a member of the Social Security Advisory Board.

The Social Security Advisory Board is an independent, bipartisan federal panel whose function is to recommend improvements to the Social Security program.

The announcement of Chen’s potential nomination was made just a few days before the federal government shutdown, and just a day before health insurance marketplaces supported by the Affordable Care Act-which Chen believes should be dismantled-began accepting clients.

Chen has served as policy director and senior strategist for the Romney-Ryan presidential campaign, which allowed him to develop various policies including some on healthcare. He was also a health policy adviser for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign in 2004. These roles prompted Chen to design and advocate for significant reforms to Social Security.

Chen is also a lecturer in public policy and law at Stanford.