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Ärende: Press Release (0606161) for Fri, 2006 Jun 16
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President Bush Appoints 2006-2007 Class of White House Fellows
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For Immediate Release
Janet Eissenstat, Director
(202) 395-4522
June 16, 2006

President Bush Appoints 2006-2007 Class of White House Fellows



WASHINGTON, June 16, 2006 - The White House today announced the appointment
of 14 outstanding individuals from across the country to serve as White
House Fellows. The 2006-2007 Class of White House Fellows represents a
diverse cross-section of professions including medicine, law, finance,
education and state government. Additionally, three branches of the
military are represented among the Fellows. The list of the 2006-2007 Class
and their biographies are included below.

The White House Fellows Program, founded in 1964 by President Lyndon B.
Johnson, offers exceptional young men and women first-hand experience
working at the highest levels of the Federal government. White House
Fellows typically spend one year working as full-time, paid special
assistants to senior White House Staff, Cabinet Secretaries, and other
top-ranking government officials. Fellows also participate in an education
program consisting of roundtable discussions with leaders from the private
and public sectors, and trips to study U.S. policy in action both
domestically and abroad. Following the Fellowship year, many Fellows repay
the privilege by contributing to the Nation as better leaders and public
servants.

The White House Fellows Program is one of the Nation's most prestigious
programs for leadership and public service. Selection as a White House
Fellow is highly competitive and based on a record of remarkable
professional achievement, evidence of leadership skills, a strong
commitment to public service, and the knowledge and skills necessary to
contribute successfully at the highest levels of the Federal government.
The Program has fostered leaders in many fields, including former Secretary
of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, former CNN President
Tom Johnson, Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange Marshall Carter,
United Nations Foundation President and former U.S. Senator Timothy Wirth,
and U.S. Senator Samuel Brownback.

Additional information about the Program is located at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/fellows.

2006-2007 Class of White House Fellows

Christian Caballero, 35. Hometown: Miami, FL. Chris Caballero serves as
Chief of Staff to the Secretary of the Florida Department of Juvenile
Justice. He oversees the operations and policy development of an agency
with approximately 5,000 employees and an estimated 6,000 contracted
employees. He is also responsible for the oversight of a $650,000,000.00
budget, and the care of an estimated 55,000 juveniles taken into custody by
the agency annually. Prior to joining the Department of Juvenile Justice,
Caballero served as Deputy Director of Cabinet Affairs to Florida Governor,
Jeb Bush. He advised Governor Bush on matters related to land acquisition,
growth management, alternative energy development and environmental
conservation. Caballero was the Governor's primary advisor during the
acquisition of 74,000 acres by the state, the single largest land purchase
in the history of Florida. Prior to joining the Bush administration,
Caballero spent several years in the corporate world, where he specialized
in market development for Harmon Glass, Inc. In 1994, he was named "Rookie
of Year," and in 1997 he was ranked 2nd in gross sales to budget among more
than 300 markets nationwide. Caballero holds a BA in Political Science, cum
laude, from Greensboro College, and also holds a JD from Florida State
University College of Law.

Jason Scott Dean, 32. Hometown: Jackson, MS. Jason Dean serves as Policy
Advisor to Governor Haley Barbour where his responsibilities include
budgetary and policy matters relating to education. In 2006, Dean
successfully worked with the state's educational stakeholders to pass the
Governor's education agenda. This reform package included such issues as
high school redesign, reducing the state's dropout rate, and addressing the
critical shortage of teachers. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he
worked with FEMA, state, and faith based groups to coordinate a warehouse
and shipping system. His network of volunteers quickly placed in-kind
national and international donations into critically affected areas. His
post-storm duties also included working on the ground with education
entities to secure funding and facilities in their recovery. He has served
as Chairman for the United Way of Ole Miss; as a Board Member for GEAR-UP,
the Public Education Forum, and on the Mayor's Commission on Public Safety;
Big Brother; and other community service interests. Prior to joining the
Governor's staff, he worked as assistant dean of student and assistant
professor at the University of Mississippi. Jason received a B.A. in
International Studies from the University of Southern Mississippi and his
M.A. and Ph.D. in Education from the University of Mississippi.

Jeffrey William Eggers, 35. Hometown: Exeter, NH. Jeff Eggers is a U.S.
Navy Lieutenant Commander and is currently serving as Executive Officer of
SEAL Team SEVEN, supervising over 160 SEALs and support personnel who
deploy globally in support of the War on Terror. He recently completed a
tour in Iraq as the Commander of Naval Special Warfare Task Unit - West
where he was the senior Special Operations officer in the volatile Anbar
province of western Iraq with the primary mission of combat advising and
training Iraqi Army and Police units in counter-insurgency security. He
also served for four years as Operations Officer and Mission Commander for
the U.S. Special Operations Command's Advanced SEAL Delivery System, a
$400M long-range submersible designed for global clandestine operations. He
was recently selected as the Naval Academy's Admiral Andersen leadership
speaker and was a U.S. Navy mission specialist candidate for NASA. He has
served as the manager for Campaign Drug-Free for Region Southwest, editor
of an academic literary journal, and also as a speaker with the Coalition
for a Drug-Free Hawaii. He was a FitzGerald Scholar with an M.A. from
Oxford University in Mathematics and Philosophy and a B.S. with honors in
Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy.

Miguel Damian Howe, 39. Hometown: Severn, MD. Miguel D. Howe is a
Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army. Most recently he served as
the Chief of Staff for the NATO Training Mission in Al Rustamiyah, Iraq,
facilitating the long term development of the Iraqi officer corps at the
Iraqi Joint Staff College and Iraqi Military Academy. A Special Forces
Officer, Miguel has commanded special operations forces on numerous
deployments throughout Latin America with the 7th Special Forces Group, to
include training the Colombian Counter-Narcotics Brigade as part of Plan
Colombia. He has served as the Human Resources Chief for all Army Special
Forces and Psychological Operations soldiers. Married with two children,
Miguel is a passionate and committed member of Parent Volunteer Corps,
tutoring and mentoring students with both promise and special needs. He
also serves his community coaching youth sports teams and working with the
Boy Scouts and Destination Imagination. He is a member of the Council on
Emerging National Security Affairs and is an accomplished runner and
cyclist. He earned his Bachelor of Science from the United States Military
Academy, and a Master of Arts, with Honors, in National Security Studies,
from Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service.

Eugene J. Huang, 30. Hometown: Beverly Hills, CA. Eugene J. Huang serves as
a Visiting Scholar at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
(SIEPR) at Stanford University, where his research interests focus on
macroeconomic policy and technology, competitiveness and innovation.
Previously, Huang was the Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of
Virginia under Governor Mark R. Warner. Appointed in 2004 as the youngest
cabinet member in Virginia history at the age of 28, Huang was a key member
of the management team responsible for Virginia's designation as the
nation's best-managed state in 2005. As Secretary, Huang oversaw the
state's award winning information technology reform initiative, fostered
development of advanced broadband communications, and facilitated the
growth of emerging technology industries throughout Virginia. An active
community leader, Huang has been involved in a wide range of volunteer
activities, including serving as a board member of FIRST Robotics Virginia
and as a coach for the Richmond Marathon Training Team. Huang is a Thouron
Scholar who received a M.Phil. with distinction, in Economic History from
Oxford University, and is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of
Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School, a B.S. in
Electrical Engineering, and a M.S. in Telecommunications Engineering.

Bedouin Leclerc Joseph, 36. Hometown: Elizabeth, NJ. Bedouin Joseph is a
complex litigation and class action attorney in a major Gulf Coast law
firm. He has represented Fortune 100 clients in civil actions involving
claims of property contamination, exposure to radiation and hazardous
chemicals. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Bedouin was the officer-in-charge of
the Transportation section of the 174th Fighter Wing, Syracuse (New York).
He also served as officer-in-charge of the Management and Systems Flight of
the Logistics Squadron at the 174th Fighter Wing, and prior to that, as a
Medical Corpsman with the 3rd Combat Medical Battalion at Marine Corps Base
Camp Hansen (Okinawa, Japan). Bedouin is a former Regimental Commander at
the United States Merchant Marine Academy. His community activities include
service as co-chair and team leader for Rebuilding Together (formerly
Christmas in October), board member and Executive Committee member of the
Preservation Resource Center, volunteer attorney for the Pro Bono Project,
tutor and mentor for at-risk children in various programs. He has published
a legal article in the Louisiana State Bar Journal. He has also published
articles in the Tort Trial _

Frederick William Kacher, 38. Hometown: Oakton, VA. Fred Kacher is an
active duty Commander in the United States Navy. A veteran of multiple
overseas deployments, he most recently deployed in support of the Global
War on Terror as Executive Officer of USS BARRY, earning the Arleigh Burke
Award for most improved ship in the Navy during his tenure. He has served
as the Speechwriter to the Secretary of the Navy and was in the Pentagon
during the terrorist attacks of September 11th. His award-winning
leadership articles have been featured in several publications and he has
been selected to write the book, The Guide for the Newly Commissioned
Officer. He serves on the National Board of Directors for the Surface Navy
Association and the Navy's National Perinatal Board, dedicated to
healthcare for military infants. Committed to helping young people succeed,
Fred has volunteered as a tutor, public speaker, and Sunday School teacher.
In 2005, he was selected for the Admiral Zumwalt Visionary Leadership Award
as the Navy's top leader below the rank of Captain. Fred received a
Bachelor of Science degree in English from the United States Naval Academy
and a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School where he also
served as Student Body President.

Westley Watende Moore, 27. Hometown: Pasadena, MD. Wes Moore is an
investment banker with Deutsche Bank's prestigious Global Markets Division
in New York and London. His work focuses on structuring and procuring a
range of complex transactions in emerging markets in Central and Eastern
Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Wes, a
paratrooper and Captain in the United States Army Reserves, recently
returned from a combat tour of duty in Afghanistan. He served as the
Director of Information Operations with the elite 1st Brigade of the 82nd
Airborne Division. Wes spearheaded the American strategic support plan for
the Afghan Reconciliation Program that unites former insurgents with the
new Afghan Government. Prior to his career in finance, Wes completed an
MLitt in International Relations from Oxford University as a Rhodes
Scholar. His thesis topic, "The Rise and Ramifications of Radical Islam in
the Western Hemisphere" has earned him praise as one of the foremost
experts on the topic. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins
University and was awarded by the Maryland College Football Hall of Fame.
Wes' troubled childhood led him to found a non-profit organization that
works with youth justice offenders, which still effectively functions to
this day. He is also authoring a book about African-American involvement in
international affairs.

Jocelyn Jones Pickford, 28. Hometown: Arlington, VA. Jocelyn Pickford is an
English teacher at West Springfield High School in Fairfax County,
Virginia, where she is the Curriculum Coordinator for Ninth-Grade English,
Lead Mentor for new teachers, and Class Sponsor. She has presented
instructional materials at numerous professional workshops and graduate
education classes. Her participation in a Fairfax County School Board
presentation in 2005 helped secure the passage of a Teacher Leadership
Initiative aimed at improving student achievement. She then assisted in
creating a grant proposal that resulted in the award of approximately
$1,000,000 from the initiative to her school. Prior to teaching, Pickford
worked as a professional writer and editor. Her articles and poems have
appeared in The Hartford Courant, Redbook magazine, and other forums, and
she has read her poetry at universities throughout Connecticut. As an
undergraduate, she studied in Rome, Italy and earned awards for achievement
in the Italian language. After rowing for four years on her college crew,
she has continued athletic pursuits-including fundraising for completion of
the Washington, DC Marathon. A national finalist for the Rhodes
Scholarship, Pickford earned her M.Ed in Secondary English Education from
the George Washington University and her BA, Phi Beta Kappa and Optima,
from Trinity College in Hartford, CT.

George Ruiz, 33. Hometown: Passaic, NJ. George Ruiz is a cardiologist with
a subspecialty in the care of adults with congenital heart disease. He
currently is an attending physician in the Washington Adult Congenital
Heart Center based at Children's National Medical Center/Washington
Hospital Center. He is an Assistant Professor of Medicine. His work with
adult congenital heart patients has been featured in the Associated Press
and CNN. He completed his training in internal medicine and cardiovascular
diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital of Harvard Medical School. He
served as the 78th Chief Resident in the Department of Medicine. In
addition to his clinical duties he was a founding member of the Minority
Medical House Staff Association and was instrumental in the development of
Brigham's Office of Minority Career Development. He has mentored thousands
of medical students and speaks nationally on success strategies for medical
school and residency. His weekly radio show on health issues for the Latino
Community can be heard on 730 AM and he has regularly appeared on
Spanish-language television broadcasts. He is a graduate of Brown
University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is married to
Lieutenant Commander Katerina Shvartsman, an OB-GYN stationed at National
Naval Medical Center.

Lena Sene, 28. Hometown: New York, NY. Lena Sene is an Investment
Representative at Lehman Brothers. She is responsible for advising
entrepreneurs and CEOs of publicly traded companies on a full range of
investment strategies. Prior to that, she was a Private Banker at JPMorgan
Chase where she worked within a team of six Private Bankers advising more
than 200 high net worth families with total assets under management of over
$4.5 billion. While at JPMorgan, she founded the Global Analyst Forum, an
initiative that has resulted in a worldwide exchange of best practices in
the Private Bank and led a team of colleagues from JPMorgan offices in
eight countries. She was selected as the sole recipient of the annual
JPMorgan Rising Star Award for the Annual Women's Bond Club Merit Award
Dinner in 2003. Lena is a founding member of Network 20/20, a 501c3
not-for-profit organization whose mission is to provide promising young
leaders from different fields, opportunities to actively engage in
substantive debate on foreign policy issues at home and in strategic
countries abroad. She led Network 20/20 delegations to Turkey and Poland
and briefed Congressional Staffers in Washington D.C. on major findings and
policy recommendations. Lena is a Board Member of the United Nations
Association of New York and a member of The Economic Club of New York. She
holds NASD Securities Licenses 7 and 63. Lena graduated from Bates College
with a Bachelor's degree in Economics and was the recipient of the Ralf
Dana Scholarship and the Arata Scholarship.

Mark DuBois Smith, 37. Hometown: Washington, DC. Mark DuBois Smith is an
active duty Major in the United States Air Force and F-16 pilot. He most
recently represented the Air Force as an exchange scholar at the Naval War
College in Newport, RI. Prior to this assignment, Major Smith flew the #2
jet as the Left Wingman in the diamond formation for the Air Force Air
Demonstration Squadron, "Thunderbirds." A top-gun fighter pilot with 2,200
hours, Mark authored the Western Air Defense Sector Plan for Homeland
Defense and the Air Force Combat Pilot Chemical Survivability Guide. His
F-16 tours include Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Korea. He also previously served
as an Air Force recruiter, public affairs officer and media relations
officer. In 1998, Mark was honored by the White House as the "Fighter Pilot
of Today" and featured in the PBS documentary, "Airmen and Adversity." He
holds a B.S. in Legal Studies from the Air Force Academy, a M.S. in Systems
Management from Colorado Tech University, and a M.A. in National Security
and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College. Mark is also a
Distinguished Graduate from the Air Force Squadron Officer School and
graduate of the Air Command _

Jeffrey Daniel Stern, 37. Hometown: Cabin John Park, MD. Jeff Stern is a
member of the Arlington County Fire Department and serves as Deputy
Coordinator of Emergency Services in the Arlington County Office of
Emergency Management. He has 18 years of experience as a firefighter,
paramedic, instructor, special operations team leader, and officer, serving
with departments in Maryland, Colorado, and Virginia through the career
rank of battalion fire chief. He has written and lectured about firefighter
safety, training, incident management, terrorism, and disaster response,
and has served as a consultant to local, state, federal, and international
government agencies on emergency services issues. He has a B.A. in
government from the College of William _ a M.P.A. from the American
University School of Public Affairs in Washington, DC, where he was
appointed to Pi Alpha Alpha, the national honor society for public affairs
and administration; and he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in public
administration at Virginia Tech's Center for Public Administration and
Policy. Stern is also a graduate of the National Fire Academy's Executive
Fire Officer program and is a Certified Emergency Manager. He is involved
with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Officers' Toys for Tots Foundation and
the Alan Bukzin Memorial Bone Marrow Drive.

Mark Vincent Vlasic, 31. Hometown: Thousand Oaks, CA. Mark Vlasic practices
law in the Litigation, International Trade, and Public Policy Practice
Groups at Gibson, Dunn _ Office at the U.S. Embassy in The Hague. He serves
on the Board of Directors of the Humanity in Action Foundation, volunteers
at his local homeless shelter, and was awarded the Frank Wheat Award for
his leadership in pro bono and community service. He received his B.S.B.A.
and J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University, his Certificate in
International Law from The Hague Academy of International Law, and
conducted his post-graduate studies at Universiteit Leiden as a
NAF-Fulbright Scholar to the Netherlands. He is a member of the Bars of
California, the District of Columbia, and the Supreme Court of the United
States.
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