Board of Directors Biographies
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS BIOGRAPHIES The Hon. Marc B. Nathanson (Co-Chair) Chair, U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (1995-2002); Vice Chair, National Democratic Institute; Board of Governors, East-West Center Los Angeles, CA Mr. Marc B. Nathanson is currently Co-Chair of the Board of Directors at the Pacific Council on International Policy. In 2012, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, appointed Mr. Nathanson as her representative to the Board of the East- West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Mr. Nathanson is Vice Chair of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and was founding Chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) for Los Angeles. He previously founded and served as Chairman and CEO of Falcon Cable TV. Mr. Nathanson additionally served as Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors during the Clinton and Bush Administrations (1995-2002). He was also a member of the Presidentially-appointed Albanian Enterprise Fund. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Aspen Institute, and Center for the Digital Future at USC. Mr. Nathanson is also a member of the Los Angeles Coalition for the Economy and Jobs, and the Council on Foreign Relations. Ambassador Rockwell Schnabel (Co-Chair) Chairman, The Sage Group, LLC Los Angeles, CA Ambassador Rockwell Schnabel, Co-Chair of the Pacific Council on International Policy’s Board of Directors, Ambassador Rockwell Schnabel is founder and Chairman of The Sage Group, a boutique merchant bank in Los Angeles. He co-founded Trident Capital, a Palo Alto based venture capital firm. In addition to his long, successful career in business, Ambassador Schnabel has had a distinguished career in the U.S. Government, serving as U.S. Ambassador to Finland (1986-1989), U.S. Ambassador to the European Union (2001-2005), and Acting Secretary of Commerce (1991-1992). He served in the United States Air Force reserves for 6 years and was a member of the Los Angeles Olympic Committee, Chairman of the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, and President of the Fire and Police Pension Fund. He was the former President of Bateman Eichler, Hills Richards, Inc. (Wells Fargo Bank). Mr. Schnabel has served on the board of numerous public and private companies in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and a member of The USC Center on Public Diplomacy Advisory Board of the Annenberg School and he attended Trinity College in Europe. Dr. Jerrold D. Green President & CEO, Pacific Council on International Policy Los Angeles, CA Dr. Jerrold D. Green is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles. He is also a Research Professor of Communications, Business, and International Relations at the University of Southern California. Prior to this he served as a Partner at Best Associates in Dallas, Texas, a privately held merchant banking firm with global operations. He also served as the Director of International Programs and Development at the RAND Corporation where he oversaw the activities of the Center for Asia-Pacific Policy as well as the Center for Russia and Eurasia. At the same time he directed RAND’s Center for Middle East Public Policy. Green has a B.A. (summa cum laude) from the University of Massachusetts/Boston, as well as an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago. His academic career began at the University of Michigan where he was a professor in the Department of Political Science and the Center for Near Eastern and North African Studies. He subsequently joined the University of Arizona where he became a Professor of Political Science and Sociology as well as Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Green has lived and worked in Egypt, where he was a Fulbright Fellow, Iran, and Israel. He has lectured on six continents and been a visiting fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Science's West Asian Studies Center in Beijing; a visiting lecturer at the Havana based Center for African and Middle East Studies (CEAMO), a fellow at the Australian Defense College, and delivered papers at conferences sponsored by the Iranian Institute of International Affairs in Tehran. Green has led three U.S. Department of Defense sponsored Pacific Council delegations to Afghanistan and another to Iraq as well as Pacific Council delegations to China, Cuba, North Korea, Turkey, South Sudan, Myanmar, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, and numerous other countries. He has also represented the Pacific Council as an observer at the legal proceedings being conducted at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, by the U.S. Department of Defense. Green is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, The California Club, the Lincoln Club, the U.S. Department of State Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy (ACIEP), and the Advisory Board of the Center for Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California. He is a member of the United States Secretary of the Navy Advisory Panel where he was awarded the Department of the Navy, Distinguished Civilian Service Award for his service. Green also served on the Selection Committee for the U.S. Department of State Herbert Salzman Award for Excellence in International Economic Performance by a Foreign Service Officer. He is currently a Reserve Deputy Sheriff with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, and has previously served as a Specialist Reserve Officer with the Los Angeles Police Department where he advised on terrorism and Middle East issues. Green serves on the Board of Managers of Falcon Waterfree Technologies, is a member of the Los Angeles Coalition for the Economy and Jobs Tourism Committee, and is an International Medical Corps Ambassador. Dr. Green has previously served on the Advisory Board of the Suu Foundation headed by Nobel Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma/Myanmar, the Board of Directors of the California Club, the Advisory Committee of The Asia Society of Southern California, the Advisory Board of Whitney International University, the Advisory Board of Academic Partnerships, and the Board of Columbia University’s Middle East Institute in New York. Dr. Green is currently a technical advisor to Activision Publishing in Santa Monica, California, where he consults on the highly successful Call of Duty series. Green has written widely on Middle East themes focusing on American Middle East policy, the role of religion in the region, inter-Arab relations, Iranian politics, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. His work has appeared in such publications as World Politics, Comparative Politics, Ethics and International Affairs, Survival, Middle East Insight, Politique Etrangere, The World Today, The RAND Review, The Harvard Journal of World Affairs, The Iranian Journal of International Relations, and The Huffington Post. Dr. Nina Ansary President, The Ansary Foundation Houston, TX Nina Ansary is President of The Ansary Foundation, a Houston-based, nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to the cause of education, healthcare, child care, youth-related problems, adult literacy and other public welfare issues, as well as greater international cooperation and better understanding among the community of nations. Ms. Nancy A. Aossey President & CEO, International Medical Corps Los Angeles, CA Nancy A. Aossey is President & CEO of Los Angeles-based International Medical Corps, whose staff of 7,800 and thousands of volunteers provides emergency relief and training on the frontlines of war, natural disaster and disease. Aossey joined International Medical Corps as its startup CEO, shortly after its founding in 1984. She went on to establish the organization as a preeminent first responder, launching its early humanitarian activities in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Angola, Rwanda, Somalia, and the Balkans. She has transformed it into one of the largest humanitarian organizations, delivering $2 billion of assistance and training to tens of millions of people in more than 70 countries. International Medical Corps has responded to every major disaster of the last 30 years and helps build self-reliance including: the civil war and famine in Somalia; genocide in Rwanda; the Indian Ocean tsunami; the Haiti and Nepal earthquakes; the Japan earthquake and tsunami; the Philippines typhoon; conflicts in Syria, Darfur, and Afghanistan; and West Africa’s Ebola outbreak. Aossey has testified before Congress, briefed the White House, and been interviewed by the major media. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Pacific Council on International Policy, the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah’s Jordan River Foundation/USA, and the Advisory Board of the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy. Aossey is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Young Presidents’ Organization/World Presidents’ Organization, and the Chief Executives Organization. Her awards and honorary doctorates include: the UCSF Medal, the YPO’s Global Humanitarian Award, and its Legacy Award; the Goldman Sachs 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs; and the Los Angeles Business Journal’s Non-Profit CEO of the Year/Women Making a Difference Award. Aossey holds a BA, an MBA and an honorary doctorate from the University of Northern Iowa. Mr. Sonny H. Astani Chairman, Astani Enterprises, Inc. Beverly Hills, CA Sonny H. Astani, founder of Astani Enterprises Inc. a development firm based in Beverly Hills, has over thirty years of real estate experience. Mr. Astani has been involved in the development and construction of over 5,000 luxury rental and condominium units valued at $1 Billion. Mr. Astani received his Master’s Degree in Engineering from the University of Southern California (“USC”). In 2007, he made a generous donation to the civil engineering department, now named the “USC Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.” It remains the largest naming gift for a civil engineering department.