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 Home > News & Policies > June 2008

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 26, 2008

President Bush Appoints 2008-2009 Class of White House Fellows

The White House announced today the President's appointment of 14 White House Fellows, selected by the President's Commission on White House Fellowships, to participate in America's most prestigious fellowship program for leadership development and public service. The 2008-2009 Class of White House Fellows represents a highly distinguished group of men and women exemplifying a diverse cross-section of professions including medicine, education, business, and science technology. Additionally, three branches of the military are represented among the newly appointed Fellows. The list of the 2008-2009 Class and their biographies are included below.

The White House Fellows Program, founded in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, offers exceptional men and women first-hand experience working at the highest levels of the Federal government. Fellows participate in an education program consisting of roundtable discussions with leaders from the private and public sectors and study trips to examine U.S. policy in action. Following the Fellowship year, the Fellows repay the privilege by contributing to the country as better national leaders and public servants.

Selection as a White House Fellow is highly competitive and based on a record of remarkable professional achievement, evidence of leadership skills, a strong commitment to public service, and the knowledge and skills necessary to contribute successfully at the highest levels of the Federal government. The program has fostered leaders in many fields, including Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, former CNN President Tom Johnson, United Nations Foundation President and Former U.S. Senator Timothy Wirth, former Supreme Allied Commander for Europe Wesley K. Clark, U.S. Senator Samuel Brownback, and U.S. Representative Joe L. Barton.

Additional information about the program is located at /fellows.

2008-2009 Class of White House Fellows

Brian Alexander. Hometown: Southfield, Michigan. Brian Alexander is a physician resident at the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program and holds a Master's Degree in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Alexander is active in clinical and translational cancer research with multiple projects published in peer-reviewed journals and works as a policy analyst/consultant for the Massachusetts Division of Healthcare Finance and Policy. He completed his medical training at the University of Michigan Medical School where he graduated in the top five in his class, received the Dean's Commendation for Excellence in Clinical Skills and the Art of Medicine, and was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha honors society. While at Michigan, Brian received multiple awards for research in the field of oncology, chaired two health policy interest groups, acted as the student delegate to the American Medical Association, served on a countywide health policy think tank, and attended the Washington Institute for Health Policy Leadership. He holds a B.A. in Health Sciences with a minor in Mathematics from Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude in addition to playing quarterback and wide receiver for the K-College Hornet Football Team.

Margaret Angell. Hometown: New York, New York. Margaret Angell serves as the Special Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer of Boston Public Schools, where she manages the operational and financial responsibilities of rolling out universal preschool programs for four-year-olds in Boston. Margaret is an appointed member of Governor Deval Patrick's Readiness Project, a statewide council developing a ten-year plan for improving education in Massachusetts. She is a graduate of the Broad Residency in Urban Education, a two-year management development program that trains graduates of business, public policy, and law schools for leadership positions in school districts. Margaret previously worked for Take the Field, a public-private partnership dedicated to rebuilding New York City's public high school sports facilities. She began her career in corporate finance, first in the investment banking division of J.P. Morgan and then in the Strategic Planning Department of Time Inc. In 2004, Margaret raced in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials for the Athens Summer Games, finishing in 2:44. She founded the ALS Marathon Team, which has raised over $650,000 for research on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Margaret received an A.B. cum laude in Economics from Harvard University, an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, and an M.P.A. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Daniel Fletcher. Hometown: Berkeley, California. Daniel Fletcher is Associate Professor of Bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley and Deputy Division Director of Physical Biosciences at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His research focuses on the development of new biomedical technologies and the study of cellular biophysics. His research honors include a National Science Foundation Career Award, National Inventors Hall of Fame Collegiate Inventors Award, and Hellman Family Faculty Fund Award. He is also co-founder of a biotechnology company focusing on needle-free drug delivery and has provided technical consulting for several high-tech ventures. Dan received a B.S. summa cum laude in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Engineering Science from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Biochemistry at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He is part of the Berkeley Biophysics program and Nanoscale Science and Engineering program and a Faculty Affiliate of the QB3 Institute. Dan teaches undergraduate and graduate students at UC Berkeley and founded the Science Bus, an after-school science enrichment program for elementary school students.

J. Nadine Gracia. Hometown: Novato, California. Nadine Gracia is a pediatrician and violence prevention researcher. She was a general pediatrics research fellow at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and received a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research addresses community-level risk factors for violence and the evaluation of neighborhood interventions to reduce violence. She is an associate of the Philadelphia Collaborative Violence Prevention Center. She earned her medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She then completed pediatrics residency and served as Chief Pediatrics Resident at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. An advocate for minority and disadvantaged populations, she lectures nationwide on health disparities, diversity in education, and cultural competence. She is a National President Emeritus of the Student National Medical Association and a past Postgraduate Physician Trustee of the National Medical Association. She is a motivational speaker and career coach for thousands of students and physicians. She also conducts workshops throughout the country on leadership development, diplomacy, and strategic planning. She serves the community on issues of political awareness, health, and educational achievement through Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Fluent in French and Haitian Creole, she earned a B.A. with honors in French at Stanford University.

Michael Hayes. Hometown: Virginia Beach, Virginia. Mike Hayes is a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy and a United States Navy SEAL. His 15-year career has included deployments throughout South America, Europe, and the Middle East in support of the War on Drugs, operations in Bosnia and Kosovo, and Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. His most recent assignment at SEAL Team TEN included seven months as the Deputy Commander for all Special Operations Forces in Al-Anbar province, Iraq. In 2002, Mike was the Navy's "Politico-Military Fellow" and subsequently received his M.A. in Public Policy from Harvard's J.F.K. School of Government. Mike received his B.A. from Holy Cross College, where he was an active Big Brother. His work has been published by the RAND Corporation. He is active in the Knights of Columbus and fluent in German and Spanish.

Sarita James. Hometown: Fort Wayne, Indiana. Sarita James is Senior Vice President of the 50-person Strategy and Policy Division at New York City Economic Development Corporation. Prior to NYCEDC, Sarita worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company, where she advised clients in the technology and telecommunications industries. She began her career as a Program Manager at Microsoft Corporation, where she was awarded two patents and served on the board of its 2,000-plus-member women's organization. In 1994, she received the Grand Prize at the International Science and Engineering Fair for her research on software speech recognition. Sarita's humor writing has appeared in the New York Times, and she has received a first offer on her upcoming memoir, Indian in Indiana: Adventures of a Misfit from America's Heartland. She has run the 2003 ING New York City Marathon and cycled in the 2000 Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic, a 200-mile, one-day event. Sarita spent a formative summer volunteering with Mother Teresa's orphanage in Kolkata and serves on the board of Ankur Kala, a Kolkata-based women's non-profit. She received a B.A. in Computer Science from Harvard College and her M.B.A. from Oxford University's Said Business School.

Ryan Janovic. Hometown: Akron, Ohio. Ryan Janovic is a Major in the United States Army and a credentialed Special Agent with 15 years of experience within the national intelligence community. He deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he worked political, military, and economic effects coordination within the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. He facilitated and directly participated in bilateral engagements with four of Iraq's neighbors, including unprecedented talks in Syria and Saudi Arabia. Currently, Ryan is the Operations Officer for the Army's largest strategic counterintelligence unit, responsible for sensitive espionage and counterterrorism investigations and operations throughout the United States and overseas. As a Captain, he was one of only 18 officers throughout the Army selected to receive the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award. As the youngest ever Eagle Scout in Summit County, Ryan represented Ohio at the World Jamboree in Sydney, Australia. He remains very involved with Scouting and assisting victims of violent crimes as part of the Victim Witness Assistance Program. A graduate of the Command and General Staff College, he holds an additional qualifier as an Army Strategist. He received his B.S. degree from the United States Military Academy and his M.B.A. from Webster University.

David Loaiza. Hometown: Santa Fe, New Mexico. David Loaiza is a technical staff member at the Los Alamos National Laboratory who serves as an advisor to the Department of Energy's Office of Dismantlement and Transparency. He assists in the development of U.S. non-proliferation policy at the national and international level. He is a technical team lead for U.S. Delegations monitoring the denuclearization of North Korea and additionally provides technical briefs and training to the International Atomic Energy Agency. David has 14 years of experience leading research programs in radiation detection and critical mass experiments. He has performed experiments with highly enriched uranium, plutonium and neptunium to support the DOE Nuclear Spent Fuel, Nuclear Criticality Safety and Nonproliferation Programs as well as Yucca Mountain Project and NASA. He has published and presented his work at national and international conferences. His interests include running marathons, playing polo, soccer, and ballroom dancing. David is proficient in Spanish, French, Italian, and Russian. He holds a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering and an M.B.A. from the University of New Mexico.

Nicole Malachowski. Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada. Nicole M. E. Malachowski is a Major in the United States Air Force with over 2,100 flying hours. She flew the F-15E in three operational fighter squadrons, gaining combat hours in Operation DELIBERATE FORGE and Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, and was honored to provide air cover over Baghdad, Iraq, on Iraq's historic election day. Nicole also flew the F-16C/D as Thunderbird #3 with the USAF Air Demonstration Squadron and was the first woman to fly on any Department of Defense military jet demonstration team. She proudly served alongside the United States Army 2nd Infantry Division, Republic of Korea, as an Air Liaison Officer. Malachowski most recently served as Deputy Chief, Commander's Action Group, at the United States Air Force Warfare Center. She received her B.S. in Management, with a minor in French, from the USAF Academy and recently earned an M.A., with honors, in National Security Policy from American Military University. Recognized for her community contributions, Nicole was honored with a Nevada State Assembly Resolution and inducted to the "Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame." Dedicated to mentoring the next generation of Americans, she is a frequent motivational speaker at local, State, and national events.

Christopher Meyer. Hometown: Shreveport, Louisiana. Chris Meyer is a Health Policy Fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. In 2004, he became a Teach For America Corps Member in New Orleans, where he taught high school social studies and coached basketball. After Hurricane Katrina, he led more than 200 evacuee students to achieve significant academic gains. In recognition of his teaching success and dedication to the New Orleans community, Meyer was selected as a school principal for Teach For America's summer institute. Beyond the classroom, Meyer has served as a Policy Coordinator for Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. He owns a small business in his hometown, Shreveport, LA, and has volunteered and interned at the White House, in Congress, and in the Office of the Mayor of New York City. Meyer is the youngest person to be elected as a Louisiana delegate to the Republican National Convention, where in 2004 he spoke about education reform. He recently received his M.P.P from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government where he was a Public Service Fellow and teaching assistant. He is a Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of Tulane University where he received his B.A. in Political Science and Political Economy. He and his wife Alice are committed to working to strengthen Louisiana.

Eyrique Miller. Hometown: Middletown, New Jersey. Eyrique Miller is currently working on behalf of Citi as the Director of Entrepreneur Services for Endeavor, a non-profit focused on high-impact entrepreneurship in emerging markets. Prior to assuming this role, Eyrique was a Vice President in Citi's Global Technology Investment Banking Group providing technology clients with advice on a broad range of transactions including both mergers and acquisitions and financing and was responsible for managing all aspects of transaction execution. Eyrique earned an M.B.A. in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School. Prior to Wharton, he worked at Lucent Technologies as a systems engineer in Optical Networking and Communications Software. He holds an M.S.E. in Telecommunications and Networking from the University of Pennsylvania. Eyrique graduated from Rutgers University cum laude with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering as a NACME Corporate Scholar. In his community, he serves on the board of the York Street Project, an organization that provides housing, education, and daycare services to homeless women and their children and has been a volunteer with Rising Tide Capital, a non-profit organization dedicated to the economic empowerment of low-income communities through entrepreneurship, and New York Cares as part of their annual Secret Santa Program.

David Rawlinson. Hometown: Rock Hill, South Carolina. David Rawlinson served as the class commencement speaker at his recent graduation from Harvard Business School where he earned his M.B.A. While attending Harvard, he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Harbus, the historic Harvard Business School weekly. Prior to enrolling in business school, David practiced with the law firms of Locke, Liddell & Sapp and Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham (K&L). His practice included representing Fortune 100 companies before domestic and international agencies and courts. David served as the associate representative to K&L's management committee. He frequently presents on subjects related to his legal expertise, including submitting testimony to the U.S. Congress. David received a J.D. from the University of South Carolina. He received his B.A. in Political Science from the Citadel. David was appointed in 1997 to the White House Conference on Youth, Drugs, and Violence. He also served on the Dallas Tax Increment Finance Board, graduated from Leadership Dallas, and is a Truman Scholar. He has also served on numerous non-profit boards of directors, including the board of Bryan's House, a pediatric HIV/AIDS organization.

Jason Snyder. Hometown: Los Angeles, California. Jason Snyder is a teacher at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. He has taught government and history for six years in public schools; he also taught for one year at the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing. Prior to teaching at Wakefield, Jason practiced education and appellate law at Hogan & Hartson LLP, where he advised school districts and drafted briefs in appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Jason also served as a law clerk at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Among his community activities, he has served on the Board of Trustees of a public charter school, represented children as a guardian ad litem, and founded a Cub Scout pack in a public housing development. Jason earned a J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law, a M.Ed. from U.C.L.A., and an A.B., with honors, in Public Policy from Stanford University. He served as student body co-president at Stanford and Editor-in-Chief of the California Law Review at Berkeley. Jason is currently pursuing a doctorate in education leadership from Columbia University Teachers College.

Everett Spain. Hometown: Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Everett S. Spain is a United States Army Officer. He recently returned from 18 months as the Aide-de-Camp to the Commanding General, Multi-National Force-Iraq. Previously, he served as an Assistant Professor at West Point, where he designed the course Leading Organizations through Change, served as the Director for the Cubbies Club (70 toddlers), and volunteered for the Orange County Special Olympics. As a Company Commander in Europe and Kosovo, his outfit received the Itschner Award, given annually to the most outstanding engineer company in the United States Army. As a junior officer at Fort Bragg, Everett won the 82d Airborne Division Best Ranger Team Competition. An undergraduate at West Point, Everett competed on the Triathlon Team, served as the Brigade Executive Officer, and received the Association of Graduates Award for finishing third in his class. While earning his M.B.A. from Duke University, he was selected by his peers for the Spaulding Award for Leadership. Everett has published several articles on leadership and received the MacArthur Leadership Writing Award. Everett is also the recipient of the Combat Action Badge, Bronze Star Medal, Master Parachutist Wings, and the Purple Heart. Everett and Julia Spain are the proud parents of four children.

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