The Board of Trustees of the Brookings Institution has elected four new members. Arthur B. Culvahouse, Jr., Kenneth M. Duberstein, Frank H. Pearl, and Beatrice W. Welters were approved by the board at its May 20 meeting.
“It is an honor to welcome these four talented individuals to the Brookings Board of Trustees,” said James A. Johnson, the chairman of the board. “They bring wisdom and experience to the Institution, and I look forward to working with them.”
“They all bring a combination of thoughtful reflection on the role of government in our society and broad real world experience in the private sector and non-profit organizations,” said Brookings President Michael H. Armacost. “They will be great assets for Brookings.”
Arthur B. Culvahouse, Jr. is chairman and CEO of the international law firm O’Melveny & Myers. From 1987 through 1989, he served as Counsel to the President, advising President Reagan on matters ranging from the Iran-Contra investigations, to the Supreme Court nominations of Robert Bork and Anthony Kennedy, to the legal aspects of the intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty. In January 1989, he was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, which recognizes “citizens who performed exemplary deeds of service for the country or their fellow citizens.”
Before joining the White House, Culvahouse was chief legislative assistant and counsel to then-Senator Howard H. Baker, Jr. He has been a member of the Administrative Conference of the United States and the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Naval Academy. From 1990 through 1992, he was appointed to the Federal Advisory Committee on Nuclear Failsafe and Risk Reduction. In December 1992, he was awarded the Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the Defense Department’s highest civilian award.
Kenneth M. Duberstein is chairman and CEO of the Duberstein Group, an independent strategic planning and consulting company. He was chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan (1988-89), and deputy chief of staff (1987). He served as the deputy assistant and then assistant to the president for legislative affairs (1981-83).
Duberstein’s government service also included positions as deputy undersecretary of Labor during the Ford Administration and director of congressional and intergovernmental affairs at the U.S. General Services Administration. Mr. Duberstein has also held leadership positions in the private sector, as vice president at the Committee for Economic Development and at the governmental relations firm Timmons & Company.
He serves on a number of corporate, academic and arts boards, including the Boeing Company, Conoco, Inc., Fannie Mae, the St. Paul Companies, Harvard University/Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics, the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, and Ford’s Theatre. He is on the Board of Governors for the American Stock Exchange and NASD, and serves as a trustee of Franklin & Marshall College and Johns Hopkins University, and as vice chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 1989, President Reagan awarded him the Presidential Citizens Medal. Mr. Duberstein also serves as chairman of the Ethics Committee for the United States Olympic Committee.
Frank H. Pearl is chairman and CEO of Perseus, L.L.C., a merchant bank and private equity fund management firm. He was the founder and is the chairman of the Perseus Books Group, a quality trade book publisher. He has been involved for over twenty years in the acquisition and financing of biotechnology investments, publishing ventures, and energy technology investments as well as leveraged acquisitions of operating companies.
After practicing law from 1969 to 1984, Pearl became a partner in Wesray Capital Corporation in Washington and New York. In 1987, Pearl founded the Jennie Zoline Foundation to support charitable activities in scientific, literary, educational, and other fields. Pearl is a member of several boards, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Rockefeller University, the National Book Foundation, and the Freer and Sackler Museums.
Beatrice W. Welters entered the high tech industry in its infancy and was part of the revolution that transformed America’s economy. During her seventeen-year career at IBM, Welters distinguished herself in a number of executive capacities, rising to the position of technical authority of IBM’s marketing team.
In 1991, Welters left IBM to devote her full attention to a wide range of philanthropic and charitable causes, among them the An-Bryce Foundation — dedicated to improving the lives of disadvantaged children through educational opportunities — which she founded.
Welters serves on the board of directors of the National Symphony Orchestra, the Washington Opera, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Library of Congress Madison Council. She was co-chairman, along with her husband, of the 2002 Kennedy Center Spring Gala. She also established an endowment at New York University Law School for students of color who are the first in their families to enter law school.