President Biden Announces Key Appointments to Boards and Commissions

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

• Jane Harman, to be a Member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board
• Arthur J. Gonzalez, to be a Member of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico
• Betty A. Rosa, to be a Member of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico
• Luis Ubiñas, to be a Member of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico
• Mohamed Elsanousi, to be a Commissioner of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
• Peter Joseph Marshall Bober, to be a Member of the Board of Visitors to the Coast Guard Academy
• Judith Barnett, to be a Member of the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts
• Sheldon Pang, to be a Member of the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts

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.

Jane Harman, to be a Member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board

Jane Harman served nine terms in Congress as the U.S. Representative for California’s 36th congressional district and was ranking member of the Intelligence Committee after 9/11. She left the House in 2011 to become the first woman President and CEO of the Wilson Center, transitioning to President Emerita in 2021.

Currently, Harman chairs the Commission on the National Defense Strategy and co-chairs the board of Freedom House. She is also a Trustee of the Aspen Institute, the Trilateral Commission, a Presidential Scholar at USC, is a member of the Board of Visitors of the National Intelligence University, and serves on the advisory boards of the Department of Homeland Security and NASA. Harman’s book, Insanity Defense: Why Our Failure to Confront Hard National Security Problems Makes Us Less Safe, was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2021.

Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico

The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico was created under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act of 2016. The Board consists of seven members appointed by the President and one ex officio member designated by the Governor of Puerto Rico. The Board is tasked with working with the people and government of Puerto Rico to create the necessary foundation for economic growth and to restore opportunity to the people of Puerto Rico.

Arthur J. Gonzalez, to be a Member of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico

Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez received a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and an LL.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law. He began his legal career as an attorney in the Office of Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service. Following his tenure at the IRS, he was in private practice until his appointment to the U.S. Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Trustee in the Southern District of New York. Thereafter, he was appointed the United States Trustee for Region 2 (New York, Connecticut, and Vermont), serving in that position until his appointment as a Judge in 1995 for a term of 14 years to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. At the completion of his first term, he was appointed to a second term and later became Chief Judge. During his tenure on the bench, he presided over numerous large complex Chapter 11 cases, including the Enron, WorldCom, and Chrysler cases.

Upon his retirement from the bench in March 2012, he became a Senior Fellow at New York University School of Law. During the period following his retirement, he has also served as an examiner, independent monitor, arbitrator, and mediator. In August 2016, he was appointed to the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico and currently serves as a member of the Board. Prior to beginning his legal career, Gonzalez was a teacher in the New York City schools for 13 years.

Betty A. Rosa, to be a Member of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico

The Board of Regents unanimously named Dr. Betty A. Rosa Commissioner of Education and President of the University of New York in February 2021. Rosa joined the Board of Regents in September 2008 and served as Chancellor from March 2016 until her resignation in August 2020, when she became Interim Commissioner. Over 700 school districts with 2.6 million pupils, 7,000 libraries, 900 museums, and 50 professions with approximately 900,000 licensees are under the Commissioner’s oversight.

Rosa is a nationally recognized education leader who received an Ed. M. and Ed. D. in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University. She also holds two other Master of Science in Education degrees, one in Administration and Supervision and the other in Bilingual Education from the City College of New York and Lehman College, respectively, and a B.A. in psychology from the City College of New York. She has more than 30 years of instructional and administrative experience with expertise in inclusive education, cooperative teaching models, student achievement, and policy implementation.

Rosa began her career as a bilingual paraprofessional, teacher, and reading coordinator in the New York City Department of Education before becoming an assistant principal and principal in special education. She created a multilingual and multicultural school for general and special education students using an integrated linguistic model and was principal of I.S. 218, a full-service community school in partnership with the Children’s Aid Society in District 6.

Luis Ubiñas, to be a Member of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico

Luis Ubiñas has had a career across business, government, and the non-profit sector. He served as President of the Ford Foundation, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, and was appointed to both the Export-Import Bank and the International Trade Commission during the Obama-Biden Administration. Over the last several years, he has been an investor, advisor, and board member.

Ubiñas is currently Chair of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation. The Foundation recently announced a $100 million project to reimagine the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration. Ubiñas serves on several other multilateral, governmental, and nonprofit boards and advisory committees, including the Advisory Board of the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships and the New York Public Library, where he serves as Chair of the Finance Committee and on the Executive Committee. He is President Emeritus of the Pan American Development Fund. In the private sector, Ubiñas is Lead Director at Electronic Arts, and serves on the boards of ATT, the technology and connectivity company, and Tanger, the publicly traded REIT. He also invests in and advises a number of private and pre-IPO companies.

Ubiñas is a graduate of Harvard College, where he was a Truman Scholar, and Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar. Ubiñas is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Ubiñas and his wife, Deborah Tolman, the feminist scholar, have two sons, Max and Ben.

United States Commission on International Religious Freedom 

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) 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. 

Mohamed Elsanousi, to be a Commissioner of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

Dr. Mohamed Elsanousi serves as the Executive Director of the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers. He previously served as Interfaith and Government Relations Director at the Islamic Society of North America. Elsanousi was also a member of the Taskforce for the U.S. Department of State on Religion and Foreign Policy, where he contributed recommendations to the Secretary of State to enhance engagement between the U.S. government, civil society, and religious actors. He frequently participated in the State Department’s speakers’ program, visiting U.S. embassies worldwide.

Elsanousi was the Principal Coordinator for developing the standards and protocols for safeguarding the rights of Christian, Jewish, and other religious minorities in Muslim-majority communities. This resulted in the adoption of the Marrakech Declaration, the most recognized Islamic theological document advocating religious freedom.

Elsanousi founded Faiths4Vaccines, a pivotal campaign with prominent faith actors in the U.S. to support the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of advancing equitable vaccine distribution and combating vaccine hesitancy.

Elsanousi is the founding Executive Committee Member of Shoulder to Shoulder and co-chair of the Multi-Faith Advisory Council to the United Nations. He also serves on the boards of directors and trustees for numerous interfaith organizations, including but not limited to the Center for Interreligious Dialogue at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City and the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies.

Elsanousi holds a bachelor’s degree in Law, a Master’s degree in Law, and a Doctorate in Law and Society from Indiana University School of Law. 

Board of Visitors to the Coast Guard Academy

The Board of Visitors to the Coast Guard Academy reviews and makes recommendations on the operation of the Coast Guard Academy and visits the Academy annually to review its operation. Specifically, the Board reviews the state of morale and discipline, recruitment and retention, curriculum, instruction, fiscal affairs, and other matters relating to the Academy that the Board determines appropriate.

Peter Joseph Marshall Bober, to be a Member of the Board of Visitors to the Coast Guard Academy

Peter Joseph Marshall Bober is the former Mayor of Hollywood, Florida and served a total of 16 years in public service. He was Hollywood’s first Hispanic (Cuban) mayor and the youngest in its history. Bober oversaw a workforce of nearly 1,500 employees and a budget exceeding a half-billion dollars. He developed fiscal policy and prioritized public safety, ethics, education, recycling, parks, and city infrastructure.

Since 2009, Bober has served as an appointee to the Federal Fort Lauderdale Courthouse Committee, which was charged with obtaining support and a site for a new federal courthouse. He also was appointed by the Broward County Board of Commissioners to the Tourism Development Council, where he advocated for the effective expenditure of tourist development tax revenue. While mayor, he served as Chairman of both the Broward County Workforce Development Board and the Hollywood, Florida Community Redevelopment Agency.

Bober is a practicing attorney, with nearly 27 years of legal experience. In addition to litigating federal employment claims, he also serves as a certified civil court mediator. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin (B.A.) where he received a Non-Resident Tuition Exemption scholarship. He is also a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D.), where he served as Senior Editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Bober was named an Honorary Texan by the Governor of Texas.

President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts

Established in 1958 by President Eisenhower, the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts (PACA) has played a valuable role in sustaining the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Cultural Center. Members of the Committee are civic and cultural leaders who are selected by the President of the United States to serve as representatives in their own communities for the Kennedy Center. The Center considers PACA appointees to be “Ambassadors for the Arts.” Acting as a national network for the Center, PACA helps to broaden the Center’s influence and extend its vision across the country. The Committee serves as a national forum, giving its members the opportunity to share with the Kennedy Center their views on the Center’s artistic programming.

Judith Barnett, to be a Member of the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts

Judith Barnett is the President of The Barnett Group, founded in 2003 to assist U.S. global companies in resolving trade barriers and growing their markets in the Middle East and North Africa. During this time, Barnett has served on the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy and Amideast. Before consulting, Barnett served in three federal government agencies, practiced as a corporate lawyer and litigator, a law professor, a public affairs specialist, speechwriter, and a journalist. 

During the Clinton-Gore Administration, Barnett served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Trade Development where she worked with the Assistant Secretary to manage an office of 400 people. The Office represented all major industry sectors, had 22 industry advisory committees, and established the Advocacy Center which has successfully advocated for billions of dollars of tenders for U.S. companies overseas. Barnett’s second position at Commerce was as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Africa and the Near East. In that role, she was responsible for activities and programs in 68 countries, creating and implementing regional projects and programs, and advocating for the selection of U.S. companies in major tenders. She was the senior Commerce official working with the State Department responsible for trade and commercial activities associated with the Middle East Peace Process.

In law practice from 1986 to 1993, Barnett worked in corporate law and litigation, and served as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. Before entering the legal profession, she served in public affairs and speechwriting at the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Education. Barnett has written articles for numerous magazines and newspapers and has been a media commentator on CNN, BBC, and various international stations.

Sheldon Pang, to be a Member of the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts

Sheldon Pang is a prominent AAPI business leader in international trade, finance, and emission reduction. Pang currently serves as Vice Chairman of Freepoint Commodities LLC and Chairman of Freepoint Solar. For two decades prior to Freepoint, Pang served as President of the Pacific Group and Vice Chairman of the Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets, and as a Managing Director at AIG International, where he built successful businesses raising funds for U.S. and Canadian government and agency debt. Pang started his career as a Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1980s.

During the Obama-Biden Administration, Pang served on the White House Commission for Presidential Scholars from 2010 to 2016. A lifetime member of OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, Pang is a recipient of the OCA WHV’s Dynamic Achiever Award. Pang’s other civic engagements include serving on the Foreign Policy Leadership Committee at the Brookings Institute, the board for National Committee on US-China Relations, and the board of USA Water Polo.

Pang received a doctoral degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University. A beneficiary of scholarships that made his advanced education possible, Pang has been a dedicated supporter of educational causes, including serving on the board of Carmel Academy, the Asia Advisory Council of Brown University, and establishment of scholarship funds at MIT and Brown University.

# # #