President David H. McCormick has been nominated by the White House to serve as undersecretary for export administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The Squirrel Hill resident and Washington, Pa., native has run Ariba's local operations, the former Downtown-based Internet services firm FreeMarkets Inc., since the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based software and services firm acquired it in 2004.

McCormick, 39, had joined FreeMarkets in 1999 and was named president and chief executive officer in 2002, succeeding founder Glen Meakem.

Ariba said yesterday that McCormick will begin shifting his duties to Ariba CEO Bob Calderoni.

An Army captain in the Corps of Engineers from 1987 to 1992 and veteran of the Persian Gulf War, McCormick brings an unusual combination of expertise and perspective in business and national security to a job that will require him to juggle two opposing interests, friends say.

The undersecretary of export administration's primary role is to ensure that U.S. export policy for what are known as "dual goods" -- hardware, software, chemicals and other products that have both military and civilian uses -- doesn't undermine national security.

At the same time, the undersecretary is expected to champion the sale of U.S. products and services overseas and uphold the nation's competitiveness, said Deborah Wince-Smith, president of the Washington-based Council on Competitiveness, a trade advocacy group.

She praised the Bush administration for choosing someone with extensive military experience and an understanding of technology.

If confirmed by the Senate, McCormick's role will be to determine what can and cannot be shipped overseas.

"Every decision you make is a commercial decision as well as a foreign policy decision," said William Reinsch, who served in the role from 1993 to 2001 and who is now president of the National Foreign Trade Council, a Washington-based advocacy group.

Friends and colleagues said that McCormick's down-to-earth disposition will aid him in balancing competing interests.

In the local technology community, he is known as a man with stellar interpersonal skills, an executive who can easily translate complex technology to the lay person.

Despite graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1987 and serving as an army officer, McCormick's foreign affairs knowledge goes beyond military service.

In 1996, he earned a doctorate in International Affairs at Princeton, where he wrote about the military and foreign policy. And in 1998, he published a book, "The Downsized Warrior: America's Army in Transition."

He also has written frequently about issues affecting the U.S. troops, most recently, a 2002 Op-Ed submission published in the Los Angeles Times that voiced his support for deposing former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

In an e-mail sent to his staff, McCormick, who declined interviews, said that if he is confirmed, he will take the job "out of a sense of duty and responsibility."

The decision to join the Bush administration was difficult, he added, because his family is "happily" settled in Pittsburgh and he is committed to Ariba's continued success.

Under McCormick's watch, the former FreeMarkets survived the dot.com implosion and was acquired by its competitor for $493 million in cash and stock. The merged entity inevitably shed jobs, but insiders say that McCormick helped maintain a strong Pittsburgh presence and work force of about 600.

McCormick's nomination is said to have evolved not from local Republican connections, but rather, his contacts in Washington. The nomination would not have happened, however, without the support of Pennsylvania's two Republican senators, Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum, colleagues say.

McCormick, according to the Web site, www.opensecrets.org, was a frequent contributor to several GOP campaigns, including giving $2,000 each to Specter in 2003 and Santorum in January.

The confirmation process can take from several weeks to a month, according to a spokesman with the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, which oversees the Department of Commerce.

The spokesman, Andrew Gray, could not confirm an exact date a hearing on McCormick's nomination will be held. If his nomination is approved by committee members, it will be subject to a vote by the Senate.

If confirmed, McCormick will replace Kenneth Juster, who served in the role during President George W. Bush's first administration.

First Published: June 30, 2005, 4:00 a.m.