WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:
- Judy Gaynor, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
- Richard P. Herman, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
- Robert Langer, Member, President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science
- Wendy Wanderman, Member, Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
- Thomas E. Wheeler, Member, President’s Intelligence Advisory Board
President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:
Judy Gaynor, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
Judy Gaynor is currently a co-founding Member of the Chicago Committee of Human Rights Watch and a Member of the Advisory Committee of the Children’s Rights Division. Ms. Gaynor was previously a consultant for Senators Adlai Stevenson and Paul Simon. From 1997 to 2003, she was Executive Director of the Chicago International Film Festival. Ms. Gaynor has served on the boards of Business and Professional People for the Public Interest and the Illinois Arts Alliance. In addition, she served on committees for the American Civil Liberties Union, the Chicago Foundation for Women, Facing History and Ourselves, and the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs. Earlier in her career, Ms. Gaynor was a schoolteacher in Chicago. She holds a B.A. from the National College of Education.
Richard P. Herman, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
Richard P. Herman is currently an educational consultant. Mr. Herman recently retired, following nearly 50 years as a founding Director of Windsor Mountain International (formerly Interlocken International Camp & Educational Travel), an organization that hosts local and international youth in experiential educational, residential, and travel programs with a focus on Community Service Learning. He also founded and directed the Educational Opportunities Fund of New Hampshire which provides scholarships for deserving youth. Mr. Herman served on the boards of the New Hampshire Children’s Alliance, the American Camping Association and Bard/Simon’s Rock Early College. He holds a B.A. in History from the University of Massachusetts and an M.A. in Education and Counseling from Northeastern University.
Robert Langer, Appointee for Member, President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science
Robert Langer is the David H. Koch Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has written more than 1,100 peer reviewed articles, has approximately 800 issued and pending patents worldwide, and is one of the most cited engineers in history. Dr. Langer is the recipient of the 2006 National Medal of Science, the 2002 Charles Stark Draper Prize, and the 2008 Millennium Prize. In 1998, he received the Lemelson-MIT prize, the world’s largest prize for invention, for being “one of history’s most prolific inventors in medicine.” Dr. Langer received his Bachelor’s Degree from Cornell University in 1970 and his Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974, both in Chemical Engineering.
Wendy Wanderman, Appointee for Member, Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Wendy Wanderman is an entertainment professional who has specialized in the production and marketing of motion pictures. She currently serves as the Associate Program Director for The Commonwealth Club of California, the nation’s oldest and largest public affairs forum, where she is responsible for the organization’s programming in San Francisco. She was the executive producer of the Bill Couturie documentary, “Into the Fire” for the History Channel and the executive producer of the 2001 Warner Brothers release, “Sweet November.” Ms. Wanderman received her M.B.A. from Columbia University and her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Thomas E. Wheeler, Appointee for Member, President’s Intelligence Advisory Board
Tom Wheeler is a Managing Director at Core Capital Partners, a venture capital firm that invests in companies focused on information technology, communications, digital media, and technology-enabled services. Before joining Core Capital in 2005, Mr. Wheeler was CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association and previously served as President of the National Cable Television Association. As an entrepreneur, Mr. Wheeler has founded multiple companies offering cable, wireless, and video communications services. He is the only person inducted into both the Cable Television Hall of Fame and the Wireless Industry Hall of Fame. Mr. Wheeler is currently Chairman of the U.S. State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy and Chairman of the FCC’s Technology Advisory Council. He is a former Chairman of the Foundation for the National Archives and a former Trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, to which he was appointed by Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Mr. Wheeler holds a B.S. in Business Administration from The Ohio State University and is a recipient of the University’s Alumni Medal for national and international career achievement.