President Biden Announces Key Appointments

Today, President Biden announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to serve in key roles:

• 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 Executive Office of the President. 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 is meeting the nation’s intelligence needs and the vigor and insight with which the community plans for the future. The President is able to appoint up to 16 members of the Board.

Senator Evan Bayh, Member, President’s Intelligence Advisory Board
Evan Bayh is a former two-term United States Senator from Indiana. While in the Senate, he served on several committees including the Senate Armed Services Committee and Senate Intelligence Committee for 10 years.  Following his Senate service, Bayh served on the Central Intelligence Agency External Advisory Board, under both Presidents Obama and Trump.  Prior to being elected to the Senate, he was elected to two terms as governor of Indiana and also served as Secretary of State in Indiana. Bayh earned a B.S. in economics from the Kelley School at Indiana University and a J.D. from the University of Virginia. He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws by Indiana University.

J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board
The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board supervises the Fulbright Program and certain programs authorized by the Fulbright-Hays Act and for the purpose of selecting students, scholars, teachers, trainees, and other persons to participate in the educational exchange programs. Appointed by the President, the 12-member Board meets quarterly in Washington, DC. The Board establishes worldwide policies and procedures for the Program and issues an annual report on the state of the Program.

Donna Brazile, Member, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board
Donna Brazile, ABC News contributor and veteran political strategist, is the former interim Chair of the Democratic National Committee. She became the first African American woman to serve as the manager of a major party presidential campaign, running 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 the Break-Ins 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 appointed by President Obama to serve on the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Brazile has served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University since 2002 and spent the fall of 2017 serving as a Joan Shorenstein fellow in Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.  She is currently 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 doctorate degrees from major colleges and universities, including her alma mater Louisiana State University. In October 2017, Brazile was the recipient of the W.E.B Du Bois Medal, Harvard’s highest honor in African American studies.  Brazile was the recipient of a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Daytime Program, Good Morning America (2016-2017) in connection with her work with ABC and she was a member of the Peabody Award-winning “Best Political Team on Television” on CNN during the 2008 election cycle.

Ambassador James Costos, Member, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board
Ambassador James Costos, a diplomat and former U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain and 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, illustrated by the launch of the annual “IN3 -INCUBED” Innovation and Tech Conference he co-founded in 2014. Costos received 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 sits on the International Council of The Hispanic Society in NYC and the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid.

Costos is a passionate supporter of the 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 a defender of global human rights. He is currently President of Secuoya Studios in Madrid, a Senior Advisor at FC Barcelona, and Senior Managing Director in the Global Venture Technologies Group at Dentons. Costos sits on the Boards of Directors of PJT Partners, Grifols, and the Human Rights Campaign, and sits of the advisory boards of two early-stage tech enterprises focused on Consumer Retail Artificial Intelligence and XR/VR electronics experiences, and he also enjoys mentoring Fellows at the Obama Foundation and the Schmidt Science Fellows Foundation. He authored a book, El Amigo Americano, El Hombre de Obama en España, and has written numerous articles on business and politics. Costos splits his time between Los Angeles, California, New York City, 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 created by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act that monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad. USCIRF uses international standards to monitor religious freedom violations globally, and makes policy recommendations to the President, the 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. At the university he was also the founder and long-time director of the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies. He received his doctorate from the University of Notre Dame.

As an activist, Schneck currently serves on the governing boards of Catholic Climate Covenant, which advocates for environmental justice and care for creation, and of Catholic Mobilizing Network, a Catholic organization working to end the death penalty and advance restorative justice. Previously, he was the executive director of Franciscan Action Network, which promotes environmental, economic, racial, and social justice on behalf of the Franciscan communities of the United States. He served the administration of President Barack Obama 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.

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