Kenneth Apfel, Richard Hobbie, Jill Quadagno, and Gerald Shea Elected to NASI Board of Directors

For Immediate Release: July 11, 2007
Contact: Jill Braunstein at (202) 452-8097

WASHINGTON, DC–The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) has elected Kenneth Apfel, Richard Hobbie, Jill Quadagno, and Gerald Shea to four-year terms on its Board of Directors.

“The NASI board of directors is fortunate to add the energy and expertise of Ken Apfel and Jill Quadagno to its ranks. We are also thrilled to have the continuing service of Rich Hobbie and the return of Gerry Shea, whose knowledge and broad vision continue to bring fresh insights to the Academy,” said NASI President Margaret Simms.

Kenneth S. Apfel is the Director of the Management, Finance and Leadership Program at the University of Maryland. Prior to this, he held the Sid Richardson Chair at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. Professor Apfel previously served as Commissioner of Social Security. He was also the Associate Director for Human Resources at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Executive Office of the President. In March 1993, Professor Apfel was appointed by the President to serve as Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Previously, he served as legislative director for Senator Bill Bradley, as well as staff member for the U.S. Senate Budget Committee. A member of NASI since 1998 and co-chair of the NASI study panel, “Uncharted Waters: Paying Benefits From Individual Accounts in Federal Retirement Policy,” he currently serves on the Advisory Board of The Journal on Social Security, Pensions, and Retirement Income of the Social Insurance Research Network (SIRN).

Richard A. Hobbie is Executive Director of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies. Previously, he was Associate Assistant Secretary in the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor. From 1987 to 1995 he was a professional staff member and, later, Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Human Resources of the House Committee on Ways and Means. From 1979 to 1987, he was a Specialist in Social Legislation at the Congressional Research Service. Before that, Mr. Hobbie was an Associate Analyst at the Congressional Budget Office. A member of NASI since 1992 and a Board member since 2003, he now serves as NASI’s Treasurer. He was also co-chair of the Academy’s 18th annual conference, “Older and Out of Work: Jobs and Social Insurance for a Changing Economy.”

Jill S. Quadagno is Professor of Sociology at the Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy at Florida State University, where she holds the Mildred and Claude Pepper Eminent Scholar’s Chair in Social Gerontology. Professor Quadagno is on the editorial board of several aging and sociological journals, and has published extensively in these areas. Her most recent book is One Nation, Uninsured: Why the U.S. Has No National Health Insurance. In 1994 she served as Senior Policy Advisor on the President’s Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform. She is past president of the American Psychological Association and a member of the Gerontological Society. A member of NASI since 1993, Professor Quadagno received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Kansas.

Gerald M. Shea is Assistant to the President for External Affairs at the AFL-CIO. Prior to this, he was executive assistant to the AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, executive assistant to the president, and director of the AFL-CIO Employee Benefits Department. Before coming to the AFL-CIO, Mr. Shea was Assistant to the President for Government Affairs for SEIU. Mr. Shea serves as a public representative on the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO), is a founding board member of the Foundation for Accountability (FACCT), chairs the Rx Health Value Project, and is on the board of the National Quality Forum. He has been a member of the Social Security Advisory Board and has served on the Medicare Prospective Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), and the Institute of Medicine’s Quality in Health Care Committee’s Subcommittee on the External Environment. He has been a member of NASI since 1994.

For interviews or additional information, contact Jill Braunstein at the National Academy of Social Insurance at (202) 452-8097 or by e-mail at jillbraun@nasi.org.

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The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of the nation’s leading experts on social insurance. Its mission is to conduct research and enhance public understanding of social insurance, develop new leaders, and provide a nonpartisan forum for the exchange of important ideas in the field. For more information on the National Academy of Social Insurance, visit www.nasi.org or call (202) 452-8097.