Karen Elliott House to Lead RAND Corporation Board of Trustees; Two New Trustees Elected

Karen Elliott House, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former publisher of the Wall Street Journal, has been elected chairman of the RAND Corporation Board of Trustees, RAND President and CEO Michael D. Rich announced today. House previously was vice chairman of the RAND Board.

Richard Danzig, former U.S. Secretary of the Navy, was elected to succeed House as vice chairman of the Board, Rich said. RAND is a nonprofit research organization. Rich also announced the election of Kenneth Feinberg and Ambassador Philip Lader to the RAND Board of Trustees.

“Karen Elliott House brings deep understanding of global and national affairs to the RAND Board,” Rich said. “Her experience will help ensure that RAND continues to shape policy and decisionmaking at all levels of government and beyond.”

House was publisher of the Wall Street Journal from 2002 to 2006, responsible for all news, editorial, sales and other business functions of the Journal and its editions around the world. She joined the newspaper in 1974 and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for her coverage of the Middle East. She is the author of the 2012 book “On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines–and Future.”

House succeeds Paul G. Kaminski, a technology company executive and former Pentagon official who chairs the Defense Science Board. Kaminski served as RAND's chairman since 2009.

Feinberg and Lader each have had a long association with RAND. “Ken and Phil bring important expertise to RAND's governing body from their service in the public and private sectors,” Rich said. “Their wisdom and experience, together with the rest of our distinguished board members, are more than a credit to the institution, they ensure that we fulfill our public service charter.”

Feinberg is managing partner of Feinberg Rozen, LLP, a Washington, D.C. law firm that is a leader in dispute resolution. Feinberg served as special master of the U.S. government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and served as the special master for TARP executive compensation, a role where he was popularly called the “pay czar.” Feinberg most recently served as the government-appointed administrator of the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster Victim Compensation Fund. Feinberg is a member of the Board of Overseers for the RAND Institute for Civil Justice.

Lader is a former U.S. ambassador to the Court of St. James's (1997–2001) and currently is chairman of WPP plc, the global advertising and communications services company that includes J. Walter Thompson, Ogilvy & Mather and other companies in 110 countries. He also is a senior adviser to Morgan Stanley and serves on the boards of several global, public companies. He is a founder of the Renaissance Weekends, the nonpartisan retreats for innovative leaders from diverse fields. Lader previously served as a RAND trustee from 2001 to 2011, and he continues to serve as member of the RAND Europe Council of Advisors.