CSIS Names 9 New Members to its Board of Trustees

WASHINGTON, October 1, 2015—The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is pleased to announce that Erskine Bowles, William Daley, Stanley Druckenmiller, Martin Edelman, Elizabeth Holmes, Ronald Kirk, Leon Panetta, Bob Schieffer, and Frances Townsend have joined the CSIS Board of Trustees.

“It is a great honor to welcome such a strong group of new trustees to our board,” said Sam Nunn, CSIS chairman and former U.S. senator (D-GA). “These individuals have proven themselves as world-class leaders. There is no doubt that they will help CSIS take an even larger step in advancing smart, actionable policy for our nation.”

“The intersection between the public and private sector is instrumental to policymaking in the 21st century,” said Tom Pritzker, CSIS’s incoming chairman, effective November 2015. “As CSIS continues its mission to develop policy solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges, the innovation and intellectual ability of our new trustees will prove invaluable to the Center.”

Complete biographical information on all of CSIS’s new trustees can be accessed by visiting http://csis.org/experts. However, we have provided abbreviated biographies below.

The Honorable Erskine Bowles served as chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and is currently a senior adviser of BDT Capital Partners. Previously, he served at the United Nations as deputy special envoy, with the rank of undersecretary general, coordinating the global response to the tsunami that struck Southeast Asia in December 2004. In 2010, President Barack Obama asked Mr. Bowles to cochair, with former senator Alan Simpson, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

The Honorable William Daley was President Barack Obama’s chief of staff from 2011 to 2012. From 1997 to 2000, he served as U.S. secretary of commerce under President Bill Clinton. He is currently managing partner and head of U.S. operations at Argentière Capital.

Stanley Druckenmiller is chairman and chief executive officer of Duquesne Family Office LLC and one of the foremost experts on investing in America. He is former managing director at Soros Fund Management, where he served as lead portfolio manager of the Quantum Fund and chief investment officer of Soros (1989–2000), and had overall responsibility for funds with a peak assessed value of $22 billion.

Martin Edelman is of counsel in the real estate practice of Paul Hastings LLP. He is a founding member of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, and serves on the board of the Tribeca Film Institute and Festival. Mr. Edelman has been recognized for his work with the U.S. military and military families by being awarded the Department of the Army Public Service Award.

Elizabeth Holmes is founder and chief executive officer of Theranos. Ms. Holmes was made a presidential ambassador for global entrepreneurship by the Obama administration in 2015. She is the youngest person to be awarded the Horatio Alger Award and was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2015.

The Honorable Ronald Kirk served as U.S. trade representative during the Obama administration. Previously, he served as mayor of Dallas, Texas, from 1995 to 2001. Ambassador Kirk is currently senior of counsel with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Dallas and Washington, D.C., offices.

The Honorable Leon Panetta served as U.S. secretary of defense and director of the Central Intelligence Agency under President Barack Obama and as director of the Office of Management and Budget and White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton. Secretary Panetta also served as a member of the House of Representatives for over 16 years. He is cofounder of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy.

Bob Schieffer is a former chief Washington correspondent at CBS News and moderator of Face the Nation. Mr. Schieffer covered Washington for CBS News for 46 years and is one of the few broadcast or print journalists to have covered all four major beats in the nation’s capital—the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, and Capitol Hill. He has moderated three presidential debates.

The Honorable Frances Townsend is former homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush. She also served as deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism from May 2003 to May 2004. Ms. Townsend spent 13 years at the U.S. Department of Justice in the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. Ms. Townsend is currently executive vice president for worldwide government, legal, and business affairs at MacAndrews and Forbes Incorporated.

“We are delighted to have such exemplary individuals join our board,” said Dr. John J. Hamre, president and CEO of CSIS. “CSIS will benefit greatly from their ideas and energy, and I look forward to engaging with them as we seek to address some of the world’s greatest challenges.”

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The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a bipartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 1962 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. It seeks to advance global security and prosperity by providing strategic insights and policy solutions to decisionmakers.