Today, President Biden announced his intention to appoint the following individuals to fill key positions:
- Senator Evan Bayh, Member, President’s Intelligence Advisory Board
- Donna Brazile, Member, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board
- Ambassador James Costos, Member, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board
- Stephen Schneck, Commissioner, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
President’s Intelligence Advisory Board
The President’s Intelligence Advisory Board is an independent element within the President’s Executive Office. The President’s Intelligence Advisory Board exists exclusively to assist the President by providing the President with an independent source of advice on the effectiveness with which the intelligence community responds to the intelligence needs of the nation and the vigor and insight with which the community plans for the future. The President can appoint up to 16 members of the Board of Directors.
Senator Evan Bayh, Member, President’s Intelligence Advisory Board
Evan Bayh is a former two-term United States Senator from Indiana. In the Senate, he served on several committees, including the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee for 10 years. After his Senate service, Bayh served on the External Advisory Board of the Central Intelligence Agency, under Presidents Obama and Trump. Before being elected to the Senate, he served two terms as Governor of Indiana and also served as Secretary of State in Indiana. Bayh earned a BS in economics from Indiana University’s Kelley School and a JD from the University of Virginia. He received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Indiana University.
J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Council
The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board oversees the Fulbright Program and certain programs authorized by the Fulbright-Hays Act and for the purpose of selecting students, scholars, teachers, interns and others to participate in the programs of educational exchange. Appointed by the President, the 12-member Board of Directors meets quarterly in Washington, DC. The Board establishes global policies and procedures for the Program and publishes an annual report on the status of the Program.
Donna Brazile, Member, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board
Donna Brazile, an ABC News contributor and seasoned political strategist, is the former acting chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. She became the first African-American woman to lead a major party’s presidential campaign, leading the campaign of former Vice President Al Gore. She is the author of several books, including the 2017 New York Times Bestseller Hacks: The Inside Story of Burglaries and Breakdowns that put Donald Trump in the White House.
Brazile has lectured at over 237 colleges and universities across the country. In 2013, Brazile was nominated by President Obama to serve on the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Brazile has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University since 2002 and spent the fall of 2017 as a Joan Shorenstein Fellow in Media, Politics, and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. She currently holds the Gwendolyn S. and Colbert I. King Endowed Chair in Public Policy at Howard University. She is the proud recipient of more than ten honorary doctorates from leading colleges and universities, including her alma mater Louisiana State University. In October 2017, Brazile was awarded the WEB Du Bois Medal, Harvard’s highest honor in African American Studies. Brazile received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Daytime Program, hello america (2016-2017) as part of her work with ABC and was a member of the Peabody Award-winning “Best Political Team on Television” on CNN in the 2008 election cycle.
Ambassador James Costos, Member, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board
Ambassador James Costos, diplomat and former U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain and the Principality of Andorra, has dedicated himself to building the important relationship between the United States, Spain, and Andorra. Costos remains focused on supporting innovation and entrepreneurship, exemplified by the launch of the annual “IN3-INCUBED” innovation and technology conference which he co-founded in 2014. Costos was awarded the Sorolla Medal for Excellence and Contribution to Hispanic Arts and Culture from the Hispanic Society of America, the Medalla de Oro de Canarias, and the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, and he currently serves on the International Board of the Hispanic Society in New York and at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid.
Costos is a passionate supporter of creative and visual arts and cultural organizations, including the Hispanic Society of America and the Whistler House Museum, and is a strong advocate for cultural diplomacy and an advocate for human rights globally. He is currently Chairman of Secuoya Studios in Madrid, Senior Advisor at FC Barcelona and Senior Managing Director of the Global Venture Technologies group at Dentons. Costos sits on the boards of PJT Partners, Grifols, and the Human Rights Campaign, and sits on the advisory boards of two tech startups focused on retail artificial intelligence and electronic XR experiences. /VR, and he also enjoys mentoring. Fellows of the Obama Foundation and the Schmidt Science Fellows Foundation. He wrote a book, El Amigo Americano, El Hombre de Obama in Spain, and has written numerous articles on business and politics. Costos divides his time between Los Angeles, California, New York and Madrid with his partner of 20 years, Michael S. Smith, and their three dogs.
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission established by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 that monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad. USCIRF uses international standards to monitor religious freedom violations around the world and makes policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress. USCIRF commissioners are appointed by the President and Congressional leaders of both political parties.
Stephen Schneck, Commissioner, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Stephen Schneck is a political philosopher by training who retired from the Catholic University of America in 2018, after more than thirty years as a professor, department chair, and dean. While at university, he was also the founder and longtime director of the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame.
As an activist, Schneck currently serves on the boards of Catholic Climate Covenant, which advocates for environmental justice and care for creation, and Catholic Mobilizing Network, a Catholic organization working to end the death penalty. death and advance restorative justice. Previously, he was executive director of the Franciscan Action Network, which promotes environmental, economic, racial, and social justice on behalf of Franciscan communities in the United States. He served President Barack Obama’s administration as a member of the White House Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Born and raised in Clinton, Iowa, Schneck now lives with his wife, Suzanne, on Bald Head Island, North Carolina.
###
