President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:
 
·         Susan Athey, Member, President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science
·         Judge Wm. Terrell Hodges, Member, Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation
·         Robert Stanton, Member, Board of Trustees of the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
·         Bill Stetson, Member, Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
·         Brady J. Deaton, Chairman, Board for International Food and Agricultural Development
·         Gebisa Ejeta, Member, Board for International Food and Agricultural Development
·         Jo Luck, Member, Board for International Food and Agricultural Development
·         Marty McVey, Member, Board for International Food and Agricultural Development
·         David Blitzstein, Member, Advisory Committee to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
·         Joyce Mader, Member, Advisory Committee to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:
 
Susan Athey, Appointee for Member, President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science
Susan Athey is a Professor of Economics at Harvard University and co-director of the Market Design Working Group at the National Bureau of Economic Research.  Her current research studies the design of auction-based marketplaces, the statistical analysis of auction data, and internet economics.  Dr. Athey was the first female recipient of the highly prestigious John Bates Clark medal, awarded by the American Economic Association, and she is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  She recently served as an elected member of the executive committee of the American Economics Association as well as the Council of the Econometric Society.  Dr. Athey received her B.A. from Duke University in economics, mathematics, and computer science and her Ph.D. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
 
Judge Wm. Terrell Hodges, Appointee for Member, Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation
Judge Wm. Terrell Hodges was appointed as a United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida in 1971 after practicing law in Tampa.  Judge Hodges has served as Chief Judge of his Court; as a member of the Circuit Council of the Eleventh Circuit; and as a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States as well as Chair of its Executive Committee.  In addition, he has served as a member and as Chair of several  committees of the Conference and the Federal Judicial Center and as Chair of the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.  He has been President of two Chapters of the American Inns of Court, and has received the Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award conferred by the American Judicature Society.  Judge Hodges received his B.S., J.D., and Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Florida.
 
Robert Stanton, Appointee for Member, Board of Trustees of the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Robert G. Stanton is a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.  He advises the Secretary on a wide range of environmental, educational, organizational and management challenges and opportunities, and provides executive leadership and program direction for the Interior Museum at the Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior Building, and the congressionally authorized Indian Arts and Crafts Board.  Prior to assuming this position in 2010, Mr. Stanton served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Program Management in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget at the Department of the Interior.  From 1997 until 2001, he was the Director of the National Park Service.  Since 2001, Mr. Stanton has served as an Executive Professor at Texas A&M University, a Visiting Professor at both Howard and Yale Universities, and consultant to a number of national conservation organizations.  Mr. Stanton earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Huston-Tillotson University, Austin, Texas, and did his graduate work at Boston University.  He has been awarded four honorary doctorate degrees.
 
Bill Stetson, Appointee for Member, Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Eugene William Stetson III is an environmental consultant and film, television, and radio producer.  He served as an advisor to the HBO movie Earth and the American Dream and has produced both narrative feature films and documentaries, including the 2002 documentary, A Closer Walk, which aired on PBS.  Mr. Stetson has established several regional film festivals, including White River Indie Films in Vermont, and, this year, served as the external affairs consultant for the Environmental Film Festival In Our Nation’s Capital.  For over twenty years, he co-produced Dartmouth College Radio's "Environmental Insight."  For nearly 15 years, Mr. Stetson advised former Governor Howard Dean on media and environmental issues, establishing the Vermont Film Commission, for which he served as founding president, a position he again holds for Governor Peter Shumlin.  He presently serves on the board of Vermont Public Radio and the founding board of the Center for the Environment at Harvard University, where he received a bachelor's degree and subsequently studied at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
 
Brady J. Deaton, Appointee for Chairman, Board for International Food and Agriculture Development
Brady J. Deaton is Chancellor of the University of Missouri. During his tenure, Mr. Deaton served as Provost, Deputy Chancellor, Chief of Staff to the Chancellor, Chair of Agricultural Economics, and Social Science Unit Leader. Since 2010, he has served as vice-chair of the Council on Public Higher Education in Missouri. He has also served on the Board of the Association of Public & Land Grant Universities, and the Commission on International Programs. Mr. Deaton holds a B.S. in Agricultural Economics, an M.A. in Diplomacy and International Commerce from the University of Kentucky, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wisconsin.
 
Gebisa Ejeta, Appointee for Member, Board for International Food and Agriculture Development
Gebisa Ejeta is currently a Professor at Purdue University and serves as the Executive Director of the Purdue Center for Global Food Security.  He previously served as Principal Plant Breeder for the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics assigned to Sudan.  Dr. Ejeta serves on the Consortium Board of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research, the Sasakawa Africa Association, and the Chicago Council for Global Affairs Agricultural Development Program. He is a Fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Sciences, the Crop Science Society of Agronomy, and the American Society of Agronomy. Dr. Ejeta was the recipient of the 2009 World Food Prize. He holds a B.S. in Plant Sciences from Alemaya College of Agriculture in Ethiopia, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Plant Genetics and Breeding from Purdue University.

Jo Luck, Appointee for Member, Board for International Food and Agriculture Development
Jo Luck is President of Heifer International, a global organization working to end hunger and poverty.  Ms. Luck previously served as president/CEO of Heifer International beginning in 1992 until 2010. During her academic tenure, she attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where she served on the Executive Committee of the Alumni Advisory Board, and the Harvard Business School’s Executive Education Session on Governing for Nonprofit Excellence. Ms. Luck was co-recipient of the 2010 World Food Prize. She holds a B.A. from Lipscomb College and honorary doctorates from several colleges and universities.
 
Marty McVey, Appointee for Member, Board for International Food and Agriculture Development
Marty McVey is President of McVey & Co. Investments, a private equity firm that focuses primarily on Healthcare, Real Estate and Energy Investments.  Mr. McVey is also the founder and Chairman of Safi Energy, a renewable energy company that has interests in alternative energy and real estate. He is a member of the Indus Entrepreneurs board. He holds a B.A. and an M.B.A. from American University.
 
David Blitzstein, Appointee for Member, Advisory Committee to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
David Blitzstein is currently the Special Assistant for Multiemployer Plans for the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW).  From 1990-2009, Mr. Blitzstein served as the Director of the Negotiated Benefits Department of the UFCW. Mr. Blitzstein represents the UFCW as a member of the Steering Committee of the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans, a member of the Employee Benefits Research Institute, a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and a Director of the Pension Research Council of the Wharton School - University of Pennsylvania. In 2008, he was appointed by the Governor of Maryland to serve a four year term on the Board of Trustees for the Maryland State Retirement and Pension Systems. Mr. Blitzstein received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.S. in labor studies from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
 
Joyce Mader, Appointee for Member, Advisory Committee to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Joyce A. Mader is a partner at O'Donoghue & O'Donoghue LLP, a Washington, DC based law firm, where she has represented multi-employer pension, health, and other employee benefit plans for more than 30 years.  Ms. Mader is currently a member of the of the American Bar Association’s Council of the Section of Labor and Employment Law and serves as the Council’s Liaison to the Section’s Employee Benefits Committee. She is a frequent speaker before labor and industry groups and at educational programs on issues relating to employee benefit plans, and, in 2000, she was inducted as a Charter Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel.  Ms. Mader received her law degree from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law and her undergraduate degree from Dickinson College.