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Mayor Williams Announces Blue Ribbon Commission on Future of DC Libraries(Washington, DC) Mayor Anthony A. Williams announced today that he has appointed a blue ribbon commission to help create a new library system in the District. The commission will be charged with assessing the current state of the city's public library system; evaluating and revising Mayor Williams' plan to build a new central library and redevelop the branch system; make recommendations for implementing the revised plan; and monitor the implementation of the plan. Mayor Williams will be the chairman of the commission. Council Chairman Linda Cropp will also serve on the commission. "The nation's capital has an unacceptable adult illiteracy rate of 37 percent and a high school drop out rate of 41 percent, said Mayor Williams. "The current library system is ill-equipped to help address these issues, so we need to bring together some of the best minds in the library field to help us redefine our system. Because my own commitment is so great, I will chair this commission personally." The members of the commission include local and national leaders with experience in the rebuilding, financing and programming of libraries, including Marie Harris Aldridge, James Billington, Ann W. Brown, Claudine Brown, Jean Case, Bonnie Cohen, Ralph Davidson, Donald Graham, Terence Golden, Vartan Gregorian, Martha Hale, Carla Hayden, John Hill, Clifford Janey, Robert L. Johnson, Susan Kent, Richard Levy, Willee Lewis, Terry Lynch, Robert Martin, Richard Moe, Very Reverend Leo J. O'Donovan, Charles Overby, Catherine Reynolds; Marshall Rose, Thomas Susman, Peter B. Wiley, Joslyn Williams, Elaine Wolfensohn, Nina Zolt. The members of the commission will hold their first meeting today at 2 p.m. in room 433 of the Martin Luther King Library at 9th and G Streets, NW. While the meeting is closed to the media, photographers and camera operators are welcome to spray the room as the meeting gets underway. Government of the District of Columbia Office of Communications Blue Ribbon Commission on the Future of the Washington, DC Public Library SystemMembers of the Blue Ribbon Commission on the Future of the Washington, DC Public Library System are listed below: Marie Harris Aldridge - President, DC Public Library Board of Trustees; Educational Consultant and former Elementary School Librarian. James H. Billington - James Hadley Billington was sworn in as the Librarian of Congress on September 14, 1987. He is the 13th person to hold the position since the Library was established in 1800. From 1973 to 1987, Dr. Billington was director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the nation's official memorial in Washington to America's 28th president. As director, he founded the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies at the Center and seven other new programs as well as the Wilson Quarterly. Dr. Billington has received 33 honorary degrees, as well as the Woodrow Wilson Award from Princeton University (1992), the UCLA Medal (1999), and the Pushkin Medal of the International Association of the Teachers of Russian Language and Culture (2000). Most recently he was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Tbilisi in Georgia (1999) and the Moscow State University for the Humanities (2001). He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford in November 2002. Dr. Billington is an elected member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and has been decorated as Chevalier and again as a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters of France, as Commander of the National Order of the Southern Cross of Brazil, awarded the Order of Merit of Italy, and a Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit by the Federal Republic of Germany. He has also been awarded the Gwanghwa Medal by the Republic of Korea, and the Chingiz Aitmatov Gold Medal by the Kyrgyz Republic. Dr. Billington was a longtime member of the editorial advisory boards of Foreign Affairs and of Theology Today, and a member of the Board of Foreign Scholarships (1971-76; Chairman, 1973-1975), which has executive responsibility for academic exchanges worldwide under the Fulbright-Hays Act. He is on the Board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and is a member of the American Philosophical Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Ann W. Brown - Former Chairman, US Consumer Product Safety Commission. For more than two decades prior to her appointment, Mrs. Brown was a consumer advocate. She served as vice president of the Consumer Federation of America for nearly 15 years, and was chairman of the board of the consumer advocacy group Public Voice from 1983 to 1994, In 1989, she was named "Washingtonian of the Year" by Washingtonian magazine. Mrs. Brown attended Smith College from 1955 to 1958 and received a B.A. in 1959 from the George Washington University. Claudine Brown - Claudine Kinard Brown is currently the Director of the Arts and Culture Program at the Nathan Cummings Foundation. She began her professional career as an art and drama teacher in New York City Public Schools. In 1976 she joined the staff of the Brooklyn Museum where she served for thirteen years in several capacities. She began her career in Brooklyn, as a museum educator. In 1984 she served as Manager of School and Community Programs and in 1985 she became the Museum's Assistant Director for Government and Community Relations. Brown left the Brooklyn Museum in 1990 to direct the Smithsonian Institution's initiative to create a National African American Museum. Her responsibilities included: conducting a needs assessment, developing a vision statement and program plan, and opening a Center for African American History & Culture pending passage of authorizing legislation to create a museum. In 1991, she added to her responsibilities by concurrently assuming the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Museums. Her responsibilities included developing policy affecting 13 national arts and humanities museums, reviewing their long-range plans and assisting in prioritizing institution-wide budget requests which were presented to Congress. Claudine Brown has served on several nonprofit boards, including the American Association of Museums, the National Park Service Fund, the Association of Black Foundation Executives and she recently served as President of the Board of Grantmakers in the Arts. She has taught graduate courses in the Arts Administration program at New York University, and the Museum Leadership Program at Bank Street College. Claudine Brown has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Pratt Institute, a Masters of Science degree in Museum Education from Bank Street College -and a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Brooklyn Law School. Jean Case - President, Case Foundation Bonnie Cohen - Principal, BR Cohen and Associates; former Assistant Secretary of State for Management, US Department of State; former Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Policy, Management and Budget. The Honorable Linda W. Cropp - Chair, District of Columbia City Council; former Chair, District of Columbia Board of Education. Ralph Davidson - President, Davidson and Associate and retired Chairman of the Boards of TIME, Inc. and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He currently is president of the consulting firm, Davidson & Associates. He is chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American University in Bulgaria, as well as chairman of People's House in Washington, D.C., a computerized information grid designed to connect the poor of the city with the many services available to them. He is a member of the board of trustees of Phoenix House, the nation's largest prevention, intervention, and drug-free rehabilitation program, The Shakespeare Theatre of Washington, D.C. and The Washington Scholarship Fund. Terence Golden - Chairman and CEO, The Bailey Capital Corporation; Chairman, Federal City Council; Board Member, PEPCO, former CEO, Host Marriot Corporation, former Chairman of the Washington Convention Center Authority Board of Directors; former Administrator, General Services Administration. Donald Graham - Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, The Washington Post Company; Chairman, The Washington Post. Donald E. Graham became chief executive officer of The Washington Post Company in May 1991 and chairman of the board in September 1993. He is also chairman of The Washington Post newspaper; he was publisher from January 1979 until September 2000. Graham was elected a director of The Washington Post Company in 1974 and served as president of the company from May 1991 to September 1993. Graham was born on April 22, 1945, in Baltimore, Maryland, a son of Philip L. and Katharine Meyer Graham. His father was publisher of The Washington Post from 1946 until 1961 and president of The Washington Post Company from 1947 until his death in 1963. His mother, Katharine Graham, served in a variety of executive positions from 1963 until her death in 2001. Eugene Meyer, Graham's grandfather, purchased 'he Washington Post at a bankruptcy sale in 1933. After graduating in 1966 from Harvard College, where he was president of the Harvard Crimson, Graham was drafted and served as an information specialist with the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968. He was a patrolman with the Washington' Metropolitan Police Department from January 1969 to June 1970. Graham joined The Washington Post newspaper in 1971 as a reporter and subsequently held several news and business positions at the newspaper and at Newsweek. He was named executive vice president and general manager of the newspaper in 1976. Graham serves as a director of BrassRing, Inc., and as a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board. He is president of the District of Columbia College Access Program and a trustee of the Federal City Council in Washington, DC. Graham is a member of the board of directors of The Summit Fund of Washington. Vartan Gregorian - is the twelfth president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, a grantmaking institution founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1911. Prior to his current position, which he assumed in June 1997, Gregorian served for nine years as the sixteenth president of Brown University. He was born in Tabriz, Iran, of Armenian parents, receiving his elementary education in Iran and his secondary education in Lebanon. In 1956 he entered Stanford University, where he majored in history and the humanities, graduating with honors in 1958. He was awarded a Ph.D. in history and humanities from Stanford in 1964. For eight years (1981-1989), Gregorian served as a president of the New York Public Library, an institution with a network of four research libraries and eighty-three circulating libraries. In 1989 he was appointed president of Brown University. Gregorian is the author of Emergence of Modem Afghanistan, 1880-1946. A Phi Beta Kappa and a Ford Foundation Foreign Area Training Fellow, he is a recipient of numerous fellowships, including those from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Social Science Research Council and the American Philosophical Society. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. In 1969, he received the Danforth Foundation's E.H. Harbison Distinguished Teaching Award. He currently serves on the boards of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, Human Rights Watch, the Museum of Modem Art, and The McGraw-Hill Companies. He served on the boards of the J. Paul Getty Trust, the Aga Khan University, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has been decorated by the French, Italian, Austrian and Portuguese governments. His numerous civic and academic honors include some fifty honorary degrees, including those from Brown, Dartmouth, Drew, Johns Hopkins, University of Pennsylvania, the Jewish Theological Seminary, the City University of New York, Rutgers, Tufts, New York University, University of Aberdeen, and, most recently, The Juilliard School, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 1986, Gregorian was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and in 1989 the American Academy of the Institute of Arts and Letters' Gold Medal for Service to the Arts. In 1998, President Clinton awarded him the National Humanities Medal. He has been honored by various cultural and professional associations, including the Urban League, the League of Women Voters, the Players Club, PEN-American Center, Literacy Volunteers of New York, the American Institute of Architects and the Charles A. Dana Foundation. He has been honored by the city and state of New York, the states of Massachusetts, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, and the cities of Fresno, Austin, Providence and San Francisco. Martha Hale - Dean, School of Library and Information Science, The Catholic University of America. Carla Hayden Dr. Carla D. Hayden is the Executive Director of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, in Baltimore, Maryland. Prior to coming to Baltimore, Dr. Hayden was the First Deputy Commissioner and Chief Librarian of the Chicago Public Library, an Assistant Professor in the School of Library and Information Science of the University of Pittsburgh, and Library Services Coordinator at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. A graduate of Roosevelt University, Dr. Hayden earned her MA and Ph.D. degrees from the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago. Dr. Hayden is an active member of the American Library Association (ALA) and was elected President of ALA for the 2003-04 term. She also served as chair of ALA's Committee on Accreditation and Spectrum Initiative to recruit minorities to librarianship. She is currently a member of the Boards of the Maryland African American Museum Corporation, Baltimore City Historical Society, Goucher College, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and Library, Maryland Historical Society, Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission, Mercy Hospital Advisory Board, National Aquarium in Baltimore's' Advisory Board, Sinai Hospital, the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences, and Washington College. Dr. Hayden was named Librarian of the Year by Library Journal (1995), one of Maryland's Top 100 Women from Warfield's Business Record (1996) and The Daily Record (2003). She is the recipient of the Carver-Washington Award from the Baltimore Tuskegee Alumni Association (1995), the Torch Bearer Award from the Coalition of 100 Black Women (1996), the Legacy of Literacy Award from the DuBois Circle of Baltimore (1996), the Andrew White Medal from Loyola College (1997), the President's Medal from the Johns Hopkins University (1998) and named as one of the Women of the Year by Ms. Magazine (2003). She was listed in the publication Notable Black American Women (2000). She has also received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from University of Baltimore (2000) and Morgan State University (2001). John Hill - Chief Executive Officer, Federal City Council. John Hill is Chief Executive Officer of the Federal City Council, with more than 28 years of experience in federal, state, local, and private sector entities. He formerly served as CEO of In2Books, Inc., director of state and local government consulting services for Arthur Andersen, LLP, and was the founding executive director of the Washington, D.C. Financial Control Board,. John Hill has also served as a director in the U.S. General Accounting Office, director of audits with the Marriott Corporation, and audit manager for Coopers and Lybrand and Price Waterhouse. He is currently Vice Chair of National Minority Aids Council, Treasurer of the DC Shakespeare Board and a Director of the DC Board of Library Trustees. and a Director of In2Books, Inc. Clifford Janey - The District of Columbia Board of Education appointed Dr. Janey on August 11, 2004. Prior to his selection as School Superintendent for the nation's capital, Dr. Janey served as Vice President for Education at Scholastic, Inc. , a $2-billion multimedia education publishing company in New York City. In that position he worked closely with state education departments and national school reform organizations to help develop and implement strategies for improving student achievement. He also coordinated partnerships with 20 major urban school districts in areas involving language development, literacy acquisition, achievement gap initiatives and professional development. From 1995 to 2002, Dr. Janey served as Superintendent of Schools in Rochester, New York, an urban school system of 55,000 students. As superintendent, he increased reading and mathematics performance on state assessments and reduced the achievement gap between black and Hispanic students and their white counterparts. Dr. Janey led the implementation of Rochester's widely acclaimed Performance Benchmarks and Public Engagement Plan that involved strategic partnerships and set a national example for how school districts and communities can organize themselves to get results. He also instituted a high performing nationally recognized pre-kindergarten program. Strongly concerned about students with diverse learning abilities, he expanded opportunities for students with special needs, and developed an affirming and achieving culture in schools for students with disabilities. Under his leadership, the district's 4th graders with disabilities achieved higher test scores and outperformed the total population of students enrolled in charter schools statewide in 2002. Before serving as Superintendent of Schools in Rochester, Dr. Janey held a number of important positions in the Boston (MA) Public Schools from 1973 to 1995. These included Chief Academic Officer, East Zone Superintendent (K-8), Community District Superintendent (K-12), Principal of Theodore Roosevelt Middle School, and Reading Teacher at the George Bancroft School. He also served as a principal in the Salem (MA) Public Schools and as Director of Black Studies at Northeastern University. He has a doctorate in Educational Policy Planning and Administration from Boston University, a master's degree in Reading and Elementary Education, and a bachelor's degree in Sociology, both from Northeastern University. Robert L. Johnson - Robert L. Johnson is the founder, chairman and CEO of Black Entertainment Television (BET) and the majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats of the National Basketball Association. Johnson grew up in Illinois and earned a graduate degree from Princeton in international affairs. In the early 1970s Johnson found himself in Washington, D.C. and in the midst of the expansion of cable television. After a few years as a lobbyist for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, Johnson borrowed money to start his own cable brand, BET. BET launched in 1980 and was profitable within five years. In the early '90s BET became the first African-American-controlled company to be traded publicly on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1998 Johnson bought it back and then sold it to Viacom, pocketing a reported $1.5 billion himself and retaining his position as chairman and CEO. Since then Johnson has continued to expand and diversify the BET brand, and in 2003 he was approved by the NBA to own and operate a new franchise, the Charlotte Bobcats. Susan Kent - was appointed Chief Executive of the Branch Libraries at the New York Public Library on September 1, 2004. Ms. Kent became City Librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) in 1995, where she is responsible for the administration and management of the Central Library and 69 branches serving a population of nearly 4 million people. During her tenure in Los Angeles, Ms. Kent has more than doubled the Library's operating budget and expanded services. She led the effort to plan for capital projects and secure capital funding for library expansion, and has overseen $318 million in capital improvements to 62 branch libraries. In addition, Ms. Kent planned for the development of a sophisticated network of telecommunications and technology initiatives to deliver comprehensive public access to electronic information locally and globally. She expanded services to children, youth, and families with an emphasis on reading enhancement programs and literacy, and conceived broad cultural programming. Ms. Kent received the American Library Association's prestigious Joseph W. Lippincott Award for distinguished service to the profession of librarianship in 2003, and the Librarian of the Year 2002 award from Library Journal. Ms. Kent began her career at The New York Public Library in 1965, and during her tenure worked as the Branch Librarian of the Donnell Art Library, which specialized in art and architecture. Her experience in public libraries also includes work at the Minneapolis Public Library, Arizona's Tucson Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Finkelstein Memorial Library in Spring Valley, N. Y. Ms. Kent was the Managing Director of the Arizona Theatre Company, a professional regional theater. She was an adjunct faculty member of the University of Arizona Graduate Library School where she taught courses in management, collection development, and future trends in library service. Ms. Kent serves as an independent consultant for libraries and non-profit organizations in the areas of strategic planning, capital facilities planning, financial development, and management. Ms. Kent has been a member of the Bertelsmann Foundation's International Network of Public Libraries since 1999, and she is a member of the Board of Directors of the Council on Library and Information Resources. She served as the Chair of the Executive Board of the Urban Libraries Council in 1999-2000 and was a member of the Board from 1994 to 2001. She served as the President of the Public Library Association from 1987 to 1988 and was a member of the Council of the American Library Association from 1990 to 1998. Ms. Kent has a Master's in Library and Information Science from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree in English Literature from SUNY at Binghamton. Richard Levy - is president of The Levy Group, a real estate investment and management company with extensive holdings in the historic Georgetown area of Washington, DC. Levy returned to Washington in 1986, from New York City, to take the helm of a family business, which, in the 1950's & 60's, was an initiator in the effort to preserve Georgetown's historic character through the renovation of historic residential and commercial properties. Since his return, Levy has played a leading role in the revitalization of Georgetown's historic character through the renovation and re-tenanting of over 30 buildings in Georgetown's commercial core, creating unique retail environments through the adaptive re-use of historic buildings. He has won awards for several of the projects he has undertaken including stores for Patagonia and Armani's A/X. Levy's formal training is in economics. He taught and directed research projects at the University of Wisconsin, Yale University and The City University of New York. While on leave from The City University, Levy co-founded New York's internationally acclaimed Big Apple Circus; a European-style, one-ring classical circus. This marked the beginning of a ten-year involvement in the development and management of New York City arts organizations, including Eliot Feld's New Ballet School and The Arts Connection. During this period, Levy also served as a consultant to The National Endowment for The Arts, the New York State Department of Education, The New York City Department of Cultural affairs and the New York City Board of Education. In addition to his various business responsibilities, Levy is a Trustee of The District of Columbia Public Library. He is also an active member of the Board of Directors of several not-for-profit organizations including The Big Apple Circus and the Georgetown BID, of which he is immediate past president, as well as a Washington Trustee of The Federal City Council. Levy is a former board member of the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency and a board member emeritus of The Ellington Fund. Willee Lewis - Former high school teacher and library advocate. Terry Lynch - Executive Director, Downtown Cluster Congregations. The Downtown Cluster is a non-profit, ecumenical association founded in 1972 for the purpose of cooperatively meeting pressing human service needs in the District of Columbia. Robert Martin - In June 2001, Robert Sidney Martin was nominated by the President of the United States to be Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS); the U.S. Senate subsequently confirmed his nomination by unanimous consent. Dr. Martin is the first librarian to lead IMLS, formed in 1996. IMLS is a federal grant-making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners by helping libraries and museums serve their communities. A librarian, archivist, educator, and administrator; Dr. Martin was Professor and Interim Director of the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Women's University prior to his appointment at IMLS. From 1995 to 1999, he was Director and Librarian of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. From 1985 until 1995, Dr. Martin was Associate Dean of Libraries for Special Collections at Louisiana State University. Before that, he worked in the archives and special collections at the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of Texas at Austin. He also taught at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Dr. Martin has a Doctor of Philosophy in Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master of Library Science from the University of North Texas, and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Rice University. Richard Moe - is the seventh president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. A native of Duluth, Minnesota, Moe graduated from Williams College in 1959 and received a law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1966. He has held administrative positions in government at the city, state and federal levels and practiced law in Washington, D.C., before assuming the presidency of the National Trust in 1993. A member of the board of the Ford Foundation, Moe was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Maryland in 1998 and was named an honorary member of The American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 2003. He is co-author of Changing Places: Rebuilding Community in the Age of Sprawl, a study of the causes of urban decline and the use of historic preservation as a tool for revitalization, published in 1997; and author of The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers, a Civil War history published in 1993. Very Reverend Leo J. O'Donovan, S.J., - is the immediate past President of Georgetown University and currently a member of America House and writing art criticism for is magazine, America as well as teaching at Fordham University. He was born in New York City in 1934. He holds degrees from Georgetown University, Fordham University, Woodstock College, and the University of Munster, where he received his doctorate in theology. He has held a Fulbright Scholarship and a Danforth Fellowship. Father O'Donovan has taught at Loyola College (Baltimore), Woodstock College, Union Theological Seminary, and the Weston Jesuit School of Theology. In addition, he has served as provincial assistant for formation in the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus and was a visiting fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center. Father O'Donovan was ordained to the priesthood in the Society of Jesus in 1966. Charles Overby - Charles L. Overby is chairman and chief executive officer of the Freedom Forum, an independent, nonpartisan foundation dedicated to First Amendment and media issues. Overby also is chairman and CEO of the Newseum, the interactive museum of news being planned for Washington, D.C. Overby is a former editor of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss. The newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for education coverage during his tenure there. He worked for 16 years as reporter, editor and corporate executive for Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper company. He was vice president for news and communications for Gannett and served on the management committees of Gannett and USA TODAY. As a reporter, he covered the White House, presidential campaigns, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. He was named president and chief executive officer of the Gannett Foundation in 1989. The foundation was renamed the Freedom Forum in 1991. He became chairman as well as CEO in 1997. Overby has served two stints in government: He was press assistant to Sen. John Stennis, D-Miss., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and special assistant for administration to Gov. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. Overby serves on the board of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Board of Regents of Baylor University and the board of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. He is a member of the foundation board of the University of Mississippi, his alma mater. Catherine B. Reynolds - Catherine Reynolds brings to the world of philanthropy the same energy and entrepreneurial spirit that ensured her success in the realm of commerce. As the leader of two businesses, Mrs. Reynolds created a new and affordable way for Americans to finance a college education. A bold, innovative thinker, she developed a privately-funded alternative to government student loan programs. Through her vision and perseverance, hundreds of thousands of Americans have been able to attend the college of their choice. In only one decade, this creative approach to private educational financing revolutionized student lending and spawned a multibillion-dollar industry of 65 lenders offering more than 200 financial products. Presently, Mrs. Reynolds devotes her time and abilities primarily to philanthropic pursuits as the creator and chairman of one of the largest foundations in the nation. The mission of the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation is profound in its implications, yet simply stated: to help educate young people, to inspire them to believe in their power to make a difference as individuals, and to motivate them to reach their greatest potential as citizens and productive members of society. In 2004, Mrs. Reynolds was selected by Business Week as one of the 50 most philanthropic living Americans and the first self-made woman ever to make their list. Marshall Rose - Builder, civic leader and lifelong New Yorker, Marshall Rose pursued a dual career in business and public service in New York, as chairman of the board of The Georgetown Group - a privately held real estate development and financial services company-and as a driving force in many New York City not-for-profit organizations. The Georgetown Group, founded by Rose in 1975, has participated in the development of two projects in Columbus: Easton, a joint venture with The Limited Inc.; and the New Albany community, a joint project with Leslie Wexner and the New Albany Company. Rose is a vice chairman at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and recently served as chairman of Lincoln Center Constituent Development Project, Inc., which is managing Lincoln Center's campus-wide redevelopment. Rose is also chairman emeritus of the New York Public Library; during his 19-year involvement with the library he has overseen efforts to revitalize the majority of the library's 85 branches. As a member of the executive committee at the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation, he oversaw the redevelopment of New York's Bryant Park, which transformed wasted parkland into a midtown oasis. He is also chairman emeritus of the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York, and a trustee of the Robert Steel Foundation for Pediatric Cancer Research. Thomas Susman - Mr. Susman is a partner in the Washington Office of Ropes & Gray. Before joining Ropes & Gray in 1981, Mr. Susman served on Capitol Hill for over 11 years. He graduated from Yale University and received his J.D. with high honors from the University of Texas Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Texas Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. Mr. Susman's practice includes counseling, lobbying, and litigation in areas that include information law and policy, government regulation, and antitrust. Peter B. Wiley - Chairman, John Wiley & Sons. Peter is also an author and journalist. He past president of the San Francisco Bay Area Book Festival of which he remains a member of its board. Peter has co-authored two books with Bob Gottlieb: "Empires in the Sun: The rise of the New American West" (1982) and "America's Saints: The. Rise of Mormon Power (1983). His most recent books are, "Yankees in the Land of the Gods: Commodore Perry and the Opening of Japan" (1991) and "A Free Library in this City: The Illustrated History of the San Francisco Public Library." The Honorable Anthony A. Williams - Mayor, Washington, DC; President, National League of Cities. Joslyn Williams - President, Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO. Joslyn N. Williams is the first African-American president of the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO, having been elected initially in 1982 and every three years since. Formerly, he had been the director of AFSCME Council 26, and, as an employee at the Library of Congress, had increased membership in their union threefold. He served as the assistant director of the AFL-CIO Department of Field Mobilization, is a member of the AFL-CIO Central Labor Council Advisory Committee, and is the regional director of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. He is a labor member of the Workforce Investment Council in DC, and is on the board of the local National Conference for Community and Justice, DC Jobs with Justice, the ACLU of the National Capital Area, and the DC. Convention and Tourism Bureau. He has served in the District of Columbia as a member of many boards and commissions including the Tax Revision Commission, the Unemployment Compensation Study Commission, and commissions which developed proposals for health care coverage, telecommunications and cable television and the convention center. He served as an election observer for the first universal elections in South Africa, and has traveled extensively in Europe, Africa and Central America representing the AFL-CIO. He is a native of Jamaica. Elaine Wolfensohn - an education specialist and a graduate of Wellesley, BA, and Columbia University, MA and MEd. Nina Zolt - Founder and Chair, In2Books. Nina Zolt has over 15 years experience in the entertainment and communications industries as an attorney, media executive, and strategic consultant. Currently, Zolt is a member of the Washington, D.C. Advisory Board for Teach for America and the Trustee's Council of the National Gallery, the Board of Directors of the Hirshorn Museum, and the Board of Trustees of the Corcoran Museums. Prior to her focus in education, Zolt was a senior executive for a major interactive media venture between Apple and IBM; served in various executive capacities at ABC, NBC, and Capitol Records; and was a partner at a prominent Los Angeles entertainment law firm representing writers, directors, and producers in the TV, motion picture, and publishing industry. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a juris doctor from Boston University School of Law. |
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