WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama nominated the former chairman of CNN and a one-time press secretary to President George W. Bush to sit on the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The agency has oversight of Voice of America, Al-Hurra, Radio Sawa and other international nonmilitary broadcasts sponsored by the U.S. government
Walter Isaacson, head CNN from 2001 to 2003, was nominated to chair the board. Isaacson is currently president of the Aspen Institute think tank in Washington, D.C., and chairman of the board of Tech for America. He succeeds James Glassman.
Bush’s press secretary, Dana Perino, was nominated to fill a seat vacated by Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del. Other nominees included:
- Susan McCue, former chief of staff for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
- Michael Lynton, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures
- Michael Meehan, former senior advisor to several Democratic U.S. senators, including John. Kerry, Barbara Boxer, Maria Cantwell and Tom Daschle.
- Victor Ashe, former ambassador to Poland and former mayor of Knoxville, Tenn.
- Dennis Mulhaupt, founder and managing director of Commonwealth Partners, Inc., which provides philanthropic advice.
- S. Enders Wimbush, senior vice president for international programs and policy at the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank.
