Press Releases - President Biden Announces Appointments to the President's Intelligence Advisory Board and the National Science Board

WASHINGTON – Today, President Biden announces his intent to appoint the following individuals to serve in key roles:

• Admiral James A. "Sandy" Winnefeld, Jr., USN (Ret.), Chair, President's Intelligence Advisory Board
• Gilman G. Louie, Member, President's Intelligence Advisory Board
• Secretary Janet A. Napolitano, Member, President's Intelligence Advisory Board
• Ambassador Richard R. Verma, Member, President's Intelligence Advisory Board
• Dr. Victor R. McCrary, Jr., Member, National Science Board
• Dr. Julia M. Phillips, Member, National Science Board

The President's Intelligence Advisory Board is an independent element within the Executive Office of the President. The President's Intelligence Advisory Board exists exclusively to assist the President by providing the President with an independent source of advice on the effectiveness with which the Intelligence Community is meeting the nation's intelligence needs and the vigor and insight with which the community plans for the future. The President is able to appoint up to 16 members of the Board.

The National Science Board establishes the policies of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and serves as advisor to Congress and the President. The Board approves major NSF awards, provides congressional testimony and issues statements relevant to the nation's science and engineering enterprise. The President is able to appoint up to 24 members to the Board, each for a term of six years.

President's Intelligence Advisory Board

Admiral James A. "Sandy" Winnefeld, Jr., USN (Ret.), Chair, President's Intelligence Advisory Board
Admiral Winnefeld graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Aerospace Engineering and served for 37 years in the United States Navy. He flew the F-14 Tomcat, and served as an instructor at TOPGUN and as senior aide-de-camp to General Colin L. Powell. He commanded a fighter squadron, the amphibious ship USS CLEVELAND, the aircraft carrier USS ENTERPRISE, a carrier strike group, two NATO commands, the United States SIXTH Fleet, United States NORTHERN Command, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command. He retired after serving as the ninth Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Admiral Winnefeld is a frequently published author and a director or advisor to companies operating in a broad spectrum of business sectors. He co-founded SAFEProject.US, a national nonprofit committed to helping reverse the epidemic of drug overdose fatalities in the United States.

Gilman G. Louie, Member, President's Intelligence Advisory Board
Gilman Louie is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of America's Frontier Fund, the public private partnership created to ensure that America leads the next wave of technology innovation. As the early CEO of In-Q-Tel, Louie has over 30 years of national security and investment experience, serving as an advisor to the Defense Innovation Board and as Commissioner to both the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) and the National Commission for Review of Research and Development Programs of the United States Intelligence Community. He is co-founder of Alsop Louie Partners and Chairman of LookingGlass Cyber Solutions, Chairman of the Board of Visitors of National Intelligence University, and the Chairman of the Federation of American Scientists. His awards include CIA Agency Seal Medallions and the CIA Director's Award. Louie received his B.S. from San Francisco State University.

Secretary Janet A. Napolitano, Member, President's Intelligence Advisory Board
Janet Napolitano is a Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy and the Founder and Faculty Director of the Center for Security in Politics at UC Berkeley. She served as the twentieth president of the University of California, the nation's largest public research university with ten campuses, five medical centers, three affiliated national laboratories, and a statewide agriculture and natural resources program. Prior to joining the University of California, Professor Napolitano served as Secretary of Homeland Security from 2009 to 2013. She is a former two-term Governor of Arizona, a former Attorney General of Arizona, and a former U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona. In 2019, Napolitano published How Safe Are We? Homeland Security Since 9/11. Professor Napolitano earned her B.S. degree, summa cum laude, in Political Science from Santa Clara University and her J.D. from the University of Virginia. She is based in Berkeley, CA.

Ambassador Richard R. Verma, Member, President's Intelligence Advisory Board
Richard Verma is the General Counsel and Head of Global Public Policy for Mastercard. In this role, he oversees the company's law and policy functions in the United States and around the world. He previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to India, where he led one of the largest U.S. diplomatic missions and championed historic progress in bilateral ties. Verma is a former Assistant Secretary of State and the former National Security Advisor to the Senate Majority Leader. Verma is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, and the recipient of numerous military awards and civilian decorations, including the Meritorious Service Medal and the State Department's Distinguished Service Award. He was a member of the WMD and Terrorism Commission, and he currently serves on a number of boards including the Ford Foundation, Lehigh University and the National Endowment for Democracy. Verma is a Senior Fellow at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and he holds multiple academic degrees, including his doctorate (Ph.D.) from Georgetown University and his law degree (J.D.) from American University.

National Science Board

Dr. Victor R. McCrary, Jr., Member, National Science Board
Victor R. McCrary is the Vice President for Research and Graduate Programs at the University of the District of Columbia, where his team leads the growth, development, oversight and strategic direction of the University's research enterprise. He has held similar research leadership positions at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Morgan State University, and the University of Tennessee. He has received numerous honors and awards including co-recipient of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Gold Medal in 2000 for the development of the first global electronic book industry standards and the 2002 Percy Julian Award by the National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers. In 2011, he was honored as Scientist of the Year by the Annual Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) STEM Conference. In 2016, President Barack Obama appointed Dr. McCrary to serve on the National Science Board. As a member of the Board, Dr. McCrary chaired a task force which recently produced the report "The Skilled Technical Workforce: Crafting America's Science and Engineering Enterprise." In 2020, he was elected Vice-Chair of the Board.

Dr. Julia M. Phillips, Member, National Science Board
Julia Phillips is a materials physicist. She retired in 2015 from Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico and is currently Executive Emeritus. As Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Sandia, she managed the Laboratory's $160 million Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program. She was also responsible for research strategy development, implementation and intellectual property protection and deployment. Her previous roles at Sandia include Vice President of Research and Chief Technology Officer (2013-2014). Prior to that, she was a member of the technical staff and a manager at AT&T Bell Laboratories from 1981 to 1995. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Phillips received a B.S. from William & Mary and a Ph.D. from Yale University.