THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

PRESIDENT NAMES TWO TO THE NATIONAL SKILL STANDARDS BOARD

The President today announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to the National Skill Standards Board:

John T. Smith of Ohio is the Special Assistant to the International President of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), AFL-CIO-CLC and Director of the USWA Dislocated Workers Program in Youngstown, Ohio. In addition, Mr. Smith is a thirty-one year member of the USWA and also serves on the Editorial Board of "Workforce," published by the Interstate Conference of Employment Security.

Previously, he served as the Administrative Assistant to the International Vice President of Human Affairs. Since 1983, he has served as the Chairman of the International Task Force for Dislocated Worker Program Development. Mr. Smith is also a member of the Pennsylvania State Job Training Coordinating Council Committee. He served on the U.S. Department of Labor's Commission for Work-Based Learning, and as a Delegate to the International Metalworkers Federal Conference in Japan and Canada. He headed an International Headquarters Study Task Force dealing with matters relating to worker adjustment and productivity that included visits with labor officials in Sweden, West Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

Mr. Smith is a graduate of the Armed Forces Institute and attended the New Castle School of Trade and the Ohio State University Labor Institute.

Hugh B. Price of New York is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Urban League, Inc. Previously, he was a senior officer at the Rockefeller Foundation where he was responsible for managing domestic initiatives in education for at-risk youth and for overseeing the Foundation's program to increase minority opportunities in the U.S.

From 1978 to 1982, Mr. Price served as a member of the Editorial Board of the New York Times where he wrote on a broad range of public policy issues. He was also involved in the New Haven Mayor's Cabinet and supervised the city's Head Start program. Mr. Price has served on numerous boards, including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Center for Community Change. He is currently a member of the Century Association and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mr. Price is a graduate of Amherst College and the Yale Law School.

The National Skill Standards Board is an independent agency composed of leaders from business, education and labor. It was authorized by the GOALS 2000: Educate America Act of 1994 in order to address the problems caused by the lack of connection between the skills Americans need in the workplace and the skills they receive through education and training. The Board will play a role in solving this mismatch by encouraging the development of skill standards that will identify the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities American workers need to succeed in the workplace.

The National Skill Standards Board will consist of twenty-four individuals, twelve appointed by the President and twelve named by the Congress. The remaining two Presidential appointees will be announced shortly.

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