President Obama today nominated Catherine Ann Novelli, Apple's VP-worldwide government relations, to be undersecretary for economic growth, energy & environment at the State Dept.

She joined the computer/entertainment company in 2007 and headed its five-member lobbying team in D.C.

Apple spent $1.4M on Capitol Hill this year, focusing on issues such as trade, market access, privacy, digital textbooks, geo-location, intelligence-sharing and data security.

Novelli was a partner at Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw before joining Apple. She did two separate stints at the Commerce Dept. as assistant U.S. Trade Rep for Europe and the Mediterranean (1997-05) and a member of the Office of the General Counsel (1985-91).