TikTok on Tuesday appointed former Boeing government affairs chief Ziad Ojakli as its head of public policy for the Americas, as the short-video app moves to finalize a deal separating its U.S. operations from parent company ByteDance.

The appointment comes amid ByteDance’s efforts to sell roughly an 80% stake in its U.S. assets to a consortium of U.S. and global investors, in order to comply with national security requirements under a 2024 law. An executive order signed by former President Donald Trump in September gives the company until late January to complete the transaction.