Leon Panetta
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Position: Founder
Organization: The Panetta Institute
Location: Seaside, CA
Leon E. Panetta is a member of the Citizens Advisory Group.
Leon E. Panetta is the founder and director of the Panetta Institute, a non-partisan center for the study of public policy located at California State University, Monterey Bay. In 1994, President Clinton appointed Mr. Panetta to be White House chief of staff; he was previously director of the Office of Management and Budget. From 1977 to 1993, Mr. Panetta was a United States representative from California, and during his final four years he was chairman of the Committee on the Budget. During his time in the House, he also chaired the Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations, and Nutrition, the Administration Committee's Subcommittee on Personnel and Police, and the Select Committee on Hunger's Task Force on Domestic Hunger. A lawyer in private practice immediately before his election to Congress, he was previously special assistant to the secretary of health, education and welfare. He then became director of the U.S. Office of Civil Rights, an experience he described in Bring Us Together, published in 1971. He earned a B.A. magna cum laude from Santa Clara University in 1960 and a J.D. from Santa Clara University Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review. He served as a first lieutenant in the Army from 1964 to 1966 and received the Army Commendation Medal.