Secretary of State Colin L. Powell Swears in New Commissioners to U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell today, May 8, at the Department of State swore in six new Commissioners to the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. All Commissioners were appointed by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate.

The Commission will be led by Chairman Barbara M. Barrett, an international business leader from Arizona who is also Chairman of Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management. Additionally, Ms. Barrett served as the first woman deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) under President Ronald Reagan and headed the American Management Association as CEO.

The Commission is a citizen’s panel that advises the President, Secretary of State and Congress on public diplomacy matters, including communication efforts by the United States Government and the private sector that inform and influence foreign audiences. In this role, the Commissioners will utilize their wide range of experience within the areas of management, communication, public affairs, law, government and international relations.

The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy is a bipartisan, Presidentially appointed panel created by Congress in 1948 to provide oversight of U.S. Government communication activities. Other Commissioners sworn in today include:

Commissioner Harold C. Pachios of Maine, who formerly served as Chairman of the Commission. He is a partner in the Portland law firm of Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau, Pachios & Haley and was Deputy Press Secretary under President Lyndon Johnson;

Commissioner Elizabeth F. Bagley of Washington, D.C., who served as U.S. Ambassador to Portugal under President Clinton and is of Counsel for Manatt, Phelps, & Phillips LLP;

Commissioner Charles “Tre’” Evers III of Florida, who is President and Co-Founder of Consensus Communications, an Orlando-based public relations and governmental affairs firm;

Commissioner Maria Sophia Aguirre of Washington, D.C., who is an associate professor of economics at The Catholic University of America;

Commissioner Jay T. Snyder of New York, who is a principal of HBJ Investments, LLC, specializing in private equity investments, and served as a U.S. Representative to the 55th United Nations General Assembly.

For more information, call Matt Lauer at (202) 619-4457 or visit the Commission’s Web site at www.state.gov/r/adcompd. [view biographies]