President Biden Announces Key Appointments to Boards and Commissions
WASHINGTON – Today, President Biden announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to serve in key roles:
- Johnpaul Jones, Member, Institute of American Indian Arts Board of Trustees
- Madeline Fielding Sayet, Member, Institute of American Indian Arts Board of Trustees
- Jane Semple Umsted, Member, Institute of American Indian Arts Board of Trustees
- Rose Simpson, Member, Institute of American Indian Arts Board of Trustees
- Manuelito Wheeler, Member, Institute of American Indian Arts Board of Trustees
- Keisha Lance Bottoms, Member, President’s Export Council
- Shamina Singh, Member, President’s Export Council
- Juliana Stratton, Member, Route 66 Centennial Commission
- Trait Thompson, Member, Route 66 Centennial Commission
- Susie Gelman, Commissioner, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Institute of American Indian Arts Board of Trustees
Johnpaul Jones, Member, Institute of American Indian Arts Board of Trustees
Johnpaul Jones has a distinguished 52-year career as an architect and is a founding partner of Jones & Jones. Earning his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Oregon in 1967, his design philosophy emerged from his Choctaw-Cherokee ancestors, which connects his work to the natural world, animal world, spirit world, and human world.
Jones designs have won widespread acclaim for their reverence for the earth, for paying deep respect to regional indigenous architectural traditions and native landscapes, as well as for heightening understanding of indigenous people and their diverse Native cultural centers and museums with tribes spanning the North American continent, culminating in his 12-year engagement as overall lead design consultant for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. A fellow in the American Institute of Architects, his designs have won a stream of local awards. His awards include the 2005 Distinguished Service Award from the University of Oregon, his alma mater, the AIA Seattle Medal in 2006, the Executive Excellence Award from the American Indian Science and Engineering Society in 2006, the Pietro Belluschi Distinguished Professorship from the University of Oregon in 2011, the Island Treasure Award from the Bainbridge Island Art and Humanities Council in 2013, and the Washington State Governor’s Heritage Award in 2014. President Barack Obama awarded him the National Humanities Medal in 2014.
Madeline Fielding Sayet, Member, Institute of American Indian Arts Board of Trustees
Madeline Sayetis a Mohegan theater maker who believes the stories we pass down inform our collective possible futures. For her work as a director, playwright, and performer, she has been honored as a Forbes 30 Under 30 in Hollywood & Entertainment, TED Fellow, National Directing Fellow, NCAIED Native American 40 Under 40, and a recipient of The White House Champion of Change Award from President Barack Obama. Her plays include: Where We Belong, Up and Down the River, Antigone Or And Still She Must Rise Up, Daughters of Leda, The Neverland, and The Fish. Her theater directing work has been seen at Long Wharf Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Perseverance Theatre, Connecticut Repertory Theater, TheatreSquared, Delaware Shakespeare Festival, South Dakota Shakespeare Festival, The Krannert Center, Glimmerglass Festival, 59e59, and more. Her play Where We Belong has been performed at The Public Theater, Seattle Rep, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, The Goodman Theatre (Jeff Award Nomination for Best Solo Performance), Philadelphia Theatre Company, Portland Center Stage, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Baltimore Center Stage as part of a national tour produced by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in association with The Folger Shakespeare Library. She currently serves as an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University, and is the Executive Director of the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program.
Jane Semple Umsted, Member, Institute of American Indian Arts Board of Trustees
Jane Semple Umsted is an artist who has spent a lifetime working in a variety of media which includes oils, acrylics, watercolor, sculpture, and the unique media of batik. She is a descendent of two Choctaw Chiefs and her art exudes the spirit of her Native roots. Since childhood, Semple Umsted has been inspired by the themes and visual images of the Choctaw culture, which have become the inspiration of her artwork. Emphasis on vibrant color and dramatic design is one of the strongest and most dramatic elements of her work, and these qualities consistently permeate all aspects of the art she produces. Semple Umsted serves as the curator of the Semple Family Museum of Native American Art at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. She received a B.F.A. from the University of Oklahoma in 1969 and an M.E. from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 1989. She retired from the Durant Public Schools where she was the art teacher for the Durant Middle School in 2007. She is a proud member of the Choctaw Tribe of Oklahoma and has been a professional artist for over 50 years. Semple Umsted is the owner of the Indian Territory Art Gallery in Durant, Oklahoma.
Rose Simpson, Member, Institute of American Indian Arts Board of Trustees
Rose Simpson has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Art, a Master of Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design, and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She has enjoyed recent solo exhibitions at ICA Boston; The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia; the Nevada Art Museum, Reno; SCAD Museum of Art, GA; Pomona College Museum of Art, Claremont, CA; and the Wheelwright Museum, Santa Fe. Her work has been included in recent group exhibitions at MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA; Cleveland Museum of Art, OH; the Berkeley Art Museum, CA; and The Bronx Museum of Arts, NY. Simpson’s work is held in numerous museum collections, including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Denver Art Museum; ICA Boston; Guggenheim, New York; MCA Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts Boston; Pomona College Museum of Art; Portland Art Museum, OR; Princeton University Art Museum; and SFMOMA.
In 2022, Simpson debuted her first large scale public work, titled Counterculture, at Field Farm, MA (commissioned by The Trustees of the Reservation). Simpson lives and works on her ancestral homelands of Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico.
Manuelito Wheeler, Member, Institute of American Indian Arts Board of Trustees
Born and raised on the Navajo Nation, Manuelito Wheeler is currently the Director of the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona. Since becoming Director in 2008 he has worked with staff to see the completion of numerous exhibits which are 100% Native built from concept, curation, and creation. Along with this, he has led his team in creating innovative projects which influence and preserve Navajo culture. Some of these projects include a Navajo collaborative project with Ai Weiwei and Bert Benallie, dubbing the movies Finding Nemo and Star Wars into the Navajo language, and most recently facilitating the donation of one of three copies of the Navajo Treaty of 1868 to the Navajo Nation Museum. He is married to Jennifer Jackson-Wheeler, Ph.D., and they have two sons.
President’s Export Council
The President’s Export Council serves as the principal national advisory committee on international trade. The Council advises the President of government policies and programs that affect U.S. trade performance; promotes export expansion; and provides a forum for discussing and resolving trade-related problems among the business, industrial, agricultural, labor, and government sectors.
Keisha Lance Bottoms, Member, President’s Export Council
Bottoms’ steadfast leadership and equity-focused philosophy have led to numerous accolades and leadership positions, including serving as the Chair of the Community Development and Housing Committee and the Census Task Force for the United States Conference of Mayors, Trustee for the African American Mayors Association, Chair of the Platform Committee for the 2020 Democratic National Convention, and the DNC’s Vice Chair of Civic Engagement and Voter Protection. Recognizing her exceptional contributions, Bottoms was named the 2020 Georgian of the Year by Georgia Trend Magazine, recognized as one of Glamour Magazine‘s 2020 Women of the Year, named to Ebony Magazine’s prestigious Power 100 List, was recognized as a BET 100 Entertainer and Innovator of the Year, and was named the Smart Cities Dive’s 2020 Leader of the Year. In acknowledgment of her equity-driven leadership and efforts to guide and protect marginalized communities, Bottoms received the Distinguished Civil Rights Advocate Award presented by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law. Bottoms’ deep-rooted family history traces back to a slave plantation in Georgia, further amplifying her sense of honor and responsibility. She is married to Derek and they are proud parents to four children.
Shamina Singh, Member, President’s Export Council
Shamina Singh is the Founder and President of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. She also serves as the Executive Vice President of Sustainability at Mastercard and is a member of the company’s Management Committee. She has drawn on over 20 years of global experience to develop a unique social impact model that leverages the assets of the public and private sector. In 2018, Mastercard created the Mastercard Impact Fund with an initial $500 million investment. Singh was named President and charged with activating those philanthropic dollars to advance inclusive growth and financial inclusion around the world. Her leadership has contributed to Mastercard’s global leadership and reputation of doing well by doing good. Deeply committed to public service, Singh has held senior positions in the White House and the U.S. House of Representatives. Singh was Executive Director of the first President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. In 2015, she was appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to a six-year term on the board of AmeriCorps. She served as chair for two years.
She serves on the boards of the Anti-Defamation League and the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders. Singh co-chairs the Ad Council of America’s Advisory Committee on Public Issues and serves on the Advisory Boards of the Aspen Institute Civil Society Fellowship and the New York Department of Financial Services Innovation. She has been named to the Financial Times Top 100 LGBT+ Executives and Fast Company‘s Queer 50 lists. Singh has studied at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and the Indian School of Business. She earned a Bachelor of Science from Old Dominion University and a Master of Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin. She received the alumni of distinction award from both institutions.
Route 66 Centennial Commission
The Route 66 Centennial Commission was established by Congress to study and recommend in a report to Congress activities that would be fitting and proper to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the Mother Road of the United States, Route 66, in 2026. The Commission shall study activities that may be carried out by the Federal Government to honor Route 66, including potential ceremonies and celebrations, the production and publication of media or other materials, and the issuance of commemorative items.
Juliana Stratton, Member, Route 66 Centennial Commission
Juliana Stratton is serving all of Illinois as the 48th Lieutenant Governor. She is dedicated and highly qualified, committed to showing that the way we move forward is together. In this role, she leans on empathy and expertise to open doors and expand pathways uplifting communities statewide. She brings her visionary leadership to more than a dozen councils, commissions, boards, and agencies as Chair or executive liaison. These span the Illinois Council on Women and Girls; the Governor’s Rural Affairs Council; the Military Economic Development Committee; and the Rivers of Illinois Coordinating Council. Among several responsibilities, Stratton’s portfolio includes overseeing the administration’s Justice, Equity, and Opportunity Initiative; chairing the board of the Restore, Reinvest, and Renew Program; and leading office initiatives that address the needs of Illinoisans—ranging from efforts to build a strong diverse teacher pipeline, to helping create pathways to economic empowerment for women, to establishing the Ag Connects Us All Agricultural Equity and Food Insecurity Initiative. Stratton serves as Chair of the National Lieutenant Governors Association (2022-2023) and she is actively engaged with The Chicago Network; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated; and The Links, Incorporated. In her free time, she enjoys running, cooking, and spending time with her husband Bryan and four daughters. Stratton loves the state of Illinois, the people of Illinois, and doing the work that will uplift the next generation in Illinois and beyond.
Trait Thompson, Member, Route 66 Centennial Commission
Trait Thompson has been the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Historical Society since 2021. Prior to that, he was the Project Manager for almost seven years on the $280 million comprehensive restoration of the Oklahoma State Capitol. From 2010 to 2014, he served as Legislative Director and Policy Advisor to President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman in the Oklahoma Senate. He also has experience in the telecom and business consulting fields and was an adjunct professor for nine years, most recently at the University of Oklahoma. In 2022, Arcadia Publishing released Trait’s book, The Oklahoma State Capitol. He is also the co-host of a podcast about Oklahoma history entitled, “A Very OK Podcast.” Thompson lives in Edmond, Oklahoma, with his wife, Sara, and their two children.
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission created by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act that monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad. USCIRF uses international standards to monitor religious freedom violations globally, and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and Congressional leaders of both political parties.
Susie Gelman, Commissioner, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Susie Gelman, a graduate of Harvard University and Georgetown University Law Center, served as Board Chair of Israel Policy Forum from 2016 to 2023. She previously served for three terms as President of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, one term as Federation’s Campaign Co-Chair, and is a lifetime member of the Federation’s Board of Directors. She previously Co-Chaired the Israel Religious Expressions Platform of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), an initiative that focused on pluralism through freedom of choice of marriage in Israel. Gelman was the inaugural chair of the Birthright Israel Foundation and served for many years as a member of its board as well as the Taglit-Birthright Israel Planning Committee. She served as Co-Chair of UJC (now JFNA) Israel and Co-Chaired JFNA’s General Assembly in Jerusalem in both 2003 and 2013. Gelman is a member of the Board of Governors of The Hebrew University, an honorary fellow of Brandeis University, and is past President of the Georgetown Day School Board of Trustees, where she served on the board for 12 years. She is the past President of the Goldman Environmental Foundation, where she continues to serve on the board. Gelman and her husband, Michael, have three adult children, three sons-in-law, and three precious grandchildren.
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