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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 1, 2001

President Bush to Nominate One Individual to Serve in His Administration and Officially Nominate Two Individuals to Serve in His Administration

President George W. Bush today announced his intention to nominate one individual to serve in his administration and also announced his official nomination of two individuals to serve in his administration.

The President intends to nominate Alexander R. Vershbow to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Russian Federation.  A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, he has been United States Ambassador to NATO since 1997.  He served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs on the National Security Council from 1994 to 1997.  Before joining the National Security Council, Vershbow was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs from 1993 to 1994 and was Deputy U.S. Permanent Representative to the Council of NATO and Deputy Chief of Mission to NATO from 1991 to 1993.   From 1988 to 1991, Vershbow served as Director of the Office of Soviet Affairs.  He has held various other posts at the Department of State and overseas including Advisor to the U.S. Delegation to the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks.   He has received numerous awards for his service including the American Foreign Service Herter Award in 1999.  Ambassador Vershbow earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University and a Master's degree in International Affairs in Russian Studies and a Certificate of the Russian Institute from Columbia University.

The President has officially nominated James Laurence Connaughton to be a Member of the Council on Environmental Quality and upon confirmation, the President intends to designate him as Chairman.  He is presently a Partner with Sidley & Austin in Washington, D.C. where he is a member of the Environmental Practice Group.  He has served for the last seven years as one of the lead negotiators on the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to the International Standards Organization Technical Committee 207.  The Committee negotiates the ISO 14000 series of international environmental standards.  These standards govern environmental management, auditing, performance evaluation, labels and declarations, life cycle assessment, and production design.  He has worked extensively on issues of foreign and U.S environmental regulation, international treaties, U.S. Legislation and Occupational Health and Safety Management.  A term member of the Council on Foreign Relations since 1994, he is a graduate of Yale University and received a law degree from Northwestern University.

The President has officially nominated John W. Gillis to be Director of the Office of Victims of Crime.  He served as Commissioner of the Board of Prison Terms for the State of California from 1990 to 1999, holding the Chairman's seat from 1991 to 1993.  Gillis was an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department from 1962 to 1988 and retired with the rank of Assistant Commanding Officer.  He is a graduate of California State University at Los Angeles and received a Master's of Public Administration from the University of Southern California.

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