President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

• Elizabeth Malory Cousens - Representative of the United States on the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, with the rank of Ambassador
• Paul W. Hodes – Member, National Council on the Arts

The President also announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

• May Y. Chen - Member, President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
• Tung Thanh Nguyen - Member, President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
• Apolo Anton Ohno - Member, President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
• Marta Araoz de la Torre - Member, Cultural Property Advisory Committee
• Jane A. Levine - Member, Cultural Property Advisory Committee
• Janet R. Kahn - Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Elizabeth Malory Cousens, Nominee for Representative of the United States to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, with the rank of Ambassador
Elizabeth Malory Cousens is Principal Policy Advisor and Counselor to the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations. In 2009, she was Director of Strategy for the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.  From 2007 to 2008, she served as Chief of Staff to the United Nations Mission in Nepal.  From 2005 to 2007, she was Vice President of the International Peace Institute, where she earlier held the position of Director of Research from 1998 to 2000 and was an associate from 1995 to 1998.  Ms. Cousens was Director of the Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum at the Social Science Research Council from 2002 to 2005.  She holds a B.A from the University of Puget Sound and was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters in 2007.  Ms. Cousens received her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

Paul W. Hodes, Nominee for Member, National Council on the Arts
Paul W. Hodes represented New Hampshire’s 2nd congressional district from 2007 until 2011. Throughout his life, Mr. Hodes has been both a performer and active member of the arts and entertainment communities.  He served on the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, as chairman of the Board of the Capitol Center for the Arts and Tricinum, Ltd. and as a board member of the Concord Community Music School. While practicing trial and entertainment law, he and his wife Peggo won two Parent's Choice awards with their band "Peggosus."  Mr. Hodes has also worked professionally as an actor, producer, director, and playwright. He graduated from Dartmouth College and Boston College Law School with additional training at the National Theater Institute and the Herbert Berghoff and Uta Hagen Studio.

President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

May Y. Chen, Appointee for Member, President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
May Y. Chen is an adjunct professor at the City University of New York, where she has taught labor studies courses and coordinated labor exchanges with Asia for the Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies since 2009.  Previously, Ms. Chen was the International Union Vice President for Workers United, Service Employees International Union in 2009.  She served as the International Union Vice President of UNITE HERE from 1999 to 2009, and Local 23-25 Manager and New York Metropolitan Area Joint Board Secretary-Treasurer from 2004 to 2009.  In her time at UNITE HERE, Ms. Chen held a number of positions, including Assistant/Associate Manager from 1997 to 2004 and Assistant Director and Director of the Education Department from 1989 to 1997.  From 1970 to 1979, she was an adjunct professor and teacher at several schools and universities in California, including the University of California at Los Angeles and California State University at Long Beach.  Ms. Chen is a Founding Member of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance and continues to serve on its New York Chapter Board.  She also serves as Board President of the New York State Immigrant Action Fund.  She holds an A.B. in East Asian Studies from Harvard/Radcliffe College and an M.A. in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles.
 
Dr. Tung Thanh Nguyen, Appointee for Member, President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
Dr. Tung Thanh Nguyen is a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he provides medical care to a diverse patient population and teaches clinicians.  He also serves as Director of the Vietnamese Community Health Promotion Project and Principal Investigator of the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training at UCSF, and in this role conducts research in health care prevention for Asian Americans.  He has worked on studies to increase breast, cervical cancer, and colorectal cancer screening among Asian Americans as well as on tobacco use among Asian Americans.  Dr. Nguyen was the volunteer Chair of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Team of the American Cancer Society in California.  In 2002, he was awarded the American Cancer Society Control Career Development Award for his outstanding work in primary care and research.  Dr. Nguyen holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Harvard University and an M.D. from the Stanford School of Medicine.

Apolo Anton Ohno, Appointee for Member, President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
Apolo Anton Ohno is an American short-track speed skating competitor, an eight-time medalist in the Winter Olympics, a 12-time National Champion, and America’s most decorated winter Olympian.  He was named the U.S. Speedskating's Athlete of the Year for 2003 and was a 2002, 2003, and 2006 finalist for the Sullivan Award, which recognizes the best amateur athlete in the U.S.  In addition, Mr. Ohno has been very involved in philanthropic activities, including participating in the Global AIDS Program (GAP) campaign to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa, The Salvation Army, the Ronald McDonald House, and Nikkei Concerns, an organization that provides assistance to Japanese elders.  In 2002, Mr. Ohno helped Senator Ted Kennedy launch the "Math Moves U Hippest Homework Happening" program, which gave students the opportunity to do math homework online with celebrities and athletes.  Mr. Ohno is also a global ambassador for the Special Olympics.

Marta Araoz de la Torre, Appointee for Member, Cultural Property Advisory Committee
Marta Araoz de la Torre is the former director of the Museum Studies Graduate Certificate Program at Florida International University in Miami.  In 2002, she retired from the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles where she worked on educational programs.  She is a co-author and editor of Heritage Values in Site Management and the editor of Assessing the Values of Cultural Heritage.  Ms. de la Torre has served on the Board of Studies of the Wall Paintings Conservation Course of the Courtauld Institute in London, and on the Hamilton Kerr Institute in Cambridge, UK.  She was also on the Executive Committee of the International Council of Museums and the Board of the American Association of Museums/International Council of Museums.  Ms. de la Torre previously served on the Cultural Property Advisory Committee from 2003 until 2008.  She has a M.A. in Arts Management from American University and a B.A. from George Washington University.

Jane A. Levine, Appointee for Member, Cultural Property Advisory Committee
Jane A. Levine is the Worldwide Director of Compliance for Sotheby’s, Inc.  As Sotheby's chief global compliance counsel, Ms. Levine is responsible for managing the company's compliance department and program including training and enforcement relating to art and cultural heritage laws, regulation and ethics, the auction process and many other areas related to the international art and auction market. Prior to joining Sotheby’s, Ms. Levine was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where she served as the Art Fraud Coordinator and was a Special Trial Attorney assigned to work with the FBI’s Art Crime Team.  Ms. Levine teaches a seminar on Art, Cultural Heritage and the Law at Columbia Law School. She received a B.A. from Brown University and her J.D. from New York University School of Law.

Dr. Janet R. Kahn, Appointee for Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health
Dr. Janet R. Kahn is currently a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Vermont’s College of Medicine, a position she has held since 2002.  Since 2000, Dr. Kahn has been a Faculty Preceptor in the Fellowship Program in Complementary, Alternative, and General Medicine at Harvard Medical School.  Dr. Kahn helped found the Integrated Health Policy Consortium in 2002, where she was on the Steering Committee until 2005, thereafter serving as Executive Director until 2011.  In addition, Dr. Kahn was the Director of Integrated Health Care of the Community Health Center of Burlington from 2008 to 2010, the Director of Research of the Massage Therapy Research Consortium from 2003 to 2008, and a Senior Research Scientist at the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women from 1997 to 2000.  Dr. Kahn’s research focuses on equitable and affordable health care delivery models, the importance of massage therapy for the treatment of chronic pain, and supporting the well-being of veterans.  Dr. Kahn has served on a number of boards, including the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health since 2009.  Dr. Kahn holds a B.A. from Antioch College, an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Ph.D. from Brandeis University.