Hon. Leon E. Panetta

Leon Edward Panetta served as White House chief of staff for President Clinton from 1994 to 1997. He is currently the director of the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy, California State University at Monterey Bay - a university he helped establish on the site of the former military base, Fort Ord. In addition, he serves as Distinguished Scholar to the Chancellor of the California State University system where he advises the Chancellor on national issues affecting higher education and teaches a Master's in Public Policy course at the Panetta Institute. In 1997, he was appointed Presidential Professor at Santa Clara University, teaching a political science course. Panetta also created the Leon Panetta Lecture Series which invites nationally known leaders from the public and private sectors to address issues confronting the nation and the world.

Before his appointment as White House chief of staff, Leon served as director of the Office of Management and Budget. Prior to this position, he was a United States Representative from California's 16th (now 17th) congressional district from 1977-1993. He served eight full terms and became OMB Director while serving in his ninth.

His tenure in Congress was distinguished by several leadership positions. Between 1989 and 1993, he was chairman of the House Committee on the Budget. He also chaired: the Subcommittee on Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations, and Nutrition of the House Agriculture Committee; the Subcommittee on Personnel and Police of the House Administration Committee; and the Task Force on Domestic Hunger of the Select Committee on Hunger. His legislation established the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

Leon served a six-year term on the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange beginning in 1997. He was Chairman of the Committee for Review for the New York Stock Exchange Board of Directors and was Co-Chair of the Corporate Governance and Listing Standards Committee for the Stock Exchange.

He also serves on the National Review Board of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as well as the Fleishman-Hillard International Advisory Board. Since June 1998, he has served on the boards of the National Steinbeck Center, the University of California Santa Cruz Foundation, and Santa Clara University Law School Board of Visitors. He also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for Santa Clara University, as a trustee for the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, and as a director for the Monterey Bay Aquarium. He is Chairman of the National Board of Advisors of the Center for National Policy as well as Chairman of the Pew Oceans Commission. He is also a member of the Board of Directors Blue Shield of California, IDT, Zenith, Connetics, Bread for the World, and Close Up. He lectures nationally and internationally on the state of the economy, the federal budget and other issues facing our nation.

Prior to entering politics, Leon served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and received the Army Commendation Medal. He graduated, magna cum laude, from Santa Clara University in 1960. He received his J.D. from Santa Clara University Law School, where he was editor of the Law Review.

Leon is the author of Bring Us Together, published in 1971, an account of his service as Director of the Office of Civil Rights. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Coastal Zone Foundation Coastal and Ocean Management Award in 1991, the Peter Burnett Award for Distinguished Public Service in 1993, the Distinguished Public Service Medal from the Center for the Study of the Presidency in 1995, Special Achievement Award from Santa Clara University Law School in 2002 and the Julius A. Stratton Award for Coastal Leadership in 2003.