Obama picks Boston business leader as envoy to Norway
On August 7, President Obama announced he is nominating Barry B. White (66), an executive board member with the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and director of the Massachusetts Alliance for International Business, as the U.S. ambassador to Norway.
“Barry brings commitment and dedication to this position and I am grateful that he will be joining our administration at this important time. I look forward to working with him in the months and years ahead,” Obama said in a statement.
“I’m very honored to be appointed by the president as our country’s representative to Norway,” said White to Boston Herald. “I look forward to working with the Senate in this process,” said the nominee.
White’s bio, as provided by the White House:
Barry White has served for over 13 years as Chairman and Managing Partner (CEO) of Foley, Hoag LLP, where he is a senior partner in the firm’s business, corporate, international and government strategies practice areas. He has practiced law at Foley, Hoag for 40 years. Mr. White also served as Chair of Lex Mundi, the world’s largest international association of independent law firms, and co-founded the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation, to provide pro bono legal advice to social entrepreneurs around the world. In the community, he serves as Secretary, General Counsel and Member of the Executive Committee of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and as a Director of the Massachusetts Alliance for International Business. Mr. White is active with many organizations and boards, including the American Bar Association, as a member of the Business and International Sections; Edgewater Technology; the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City; the Boston Municipal Research Bureau; the Northeastern University School of Social Science, Public Policy and Urban Affairs; the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health; the Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine; and several others. Mr. White was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Public Health Service and served from 1967 to 1969 in the legislative liaison office in the Office of the Surgeon General at the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Mr. White holds an A.B. from Harvard College, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, where he was an Editor of the Harvard Law Review.
Source: Whitehouse.gov