See Also About the Program YoungArts Presidential Scholars Foundation Sponsors and Benefactors

The Commission on Presidential Scholars is a group of eminent private citizens appointed by the President to select and honor the Presidential Scholars. Commissioners are selected from across the country, representing the fields of education, medicine, law, social services, business, and other professions. The Commissioners make the difficult choices of selecting Scholars from an initial pool of approximately 3,000 candidates who demonstrate exceptional accomplishments in academics, the arts, and an outstanding commitment to public service.

The Commission on Presidential Scholars

Marina C. McCarthy
Commission Chair
Educational Consultant
Associate, Davis Center, Harvard University
Massachusetts

José M. Amaya
Diversity Program Manager, Rockwell Collins, Inc.
Iowa

Michael A. Caplin
Chairman, Phoenix Project Nonprofit Leadership Program
President, Turtle Island Group, LLC
President, The New York Center for Children
Virginia

Martha Darling
Education Policy Consultant
Michigan

Alan H. Fleischmann
Principal and Board Member, Albright Stonebridge Group
Co-founder, Board Member, and Managing Director, ImagineNations Group
Maryland

Judy Gaynor
Co-founding Member, Chicago Committee of Human Rights Watch
Member, Advisory Committee of the Children’s Rights Division
Illinois

Richard P. Herman
Educational Consultant
Retired Founding Director, Windsor Mountain International
New Hampshire

I. King Jordan
President Emeritus, Gallaudet University
Maryland

Colin Crowell Kippen
Executive Director, National Indian Education Association
Hawaii

Reginald Lewis
Executive Director, The Chad School Foundation, Inc.
New Jersey

Yvette Lewis
Creator/Performer, SO THIS IS OPERA
Teaching Artist, Maryland State Arts Council and the Strathmore Hall Performing Arts Center
Maryland

Choco Gonzalez Meza
Founder, CGM Consulting
Texas

Sondra Myers
Senior Fellow, International, Civic and Cultural Projects, University of Scranton
Director, The Schemel Forum, University of Scranton
Pennsylvania

Alapaki Nahale-a
Chairman, Hawaiian Homes Commission
Director, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands
Hawaii

Jackie Norris
Executive Director, Points of Light Corporate Institute
Adjunct Professor, School of Public Affairs, American University

Sheldon Pang
Vice Chairman, Freepoint Commodities
Connecticut

Carol Pensky
Board of Directors Member, DC Prep
Board of Directors Member, Wendt Center for Loss and Healing
Advisory Board Member, Woodley House, Inc.
Washington, DC

Robert Saltzman
Associate Dean, University of Southern California Gould School of Law
Police Commissioner, Los Angeles Police Department
California

Jeanne Unemori Skog
President & CEO, Maui Economic Development Board, Inc.
Chair, Economic Alliance of Hawaii
Hawaii

Srinija Srinivasan
Chair, Board of Trustees of SFJAZZ
Founder, Performance and production center for creative music, Brooklyn, New York
California

Donald M. Stewart
Visiting Professor, The University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy Studies
Retired Chief Executive Officer, The Chicago Community Trust
Illinois

Cynthia Ann Telles
Director, UCLA Spanish Speaking Psychosocial Clinic, Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, UCLA School of Medicine
Associate Clinical Professor, UCLA School of Medicine
California

Tamara Toussaint
Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator, Ford & Harrison LLP
Illinois

Michelle M. Shearer
2011 National Teacher of the Year
Maryland

E. Faye Williams
Chair, National Congress of Black Women
Washington, DC

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