WASHINGTON, D.C. — President George W. Bush has named nine people to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the governing body of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The members were sworn-in at a Museum ceremony on Tuesday, April 17 by U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Susan Schwab, both of whose parents are Holocaust survivors. The Council consists of 55 Presidential appointees, 10 Congressional representatives and three ex-officio members from the departments of Education, Interior and State. Fred S. Zeidman and Joel M. Geiderman have been re-appointed as Chairman and Vice Chairman, respectively. Also re-appointed is Tom A. Bernstein. The others are newly appointed. The appointments are for the remainder of five-year terms expiring on January 15, 2012.

Fred S. Zeidman, Houston, TX, has served as Council Chairman since being appointed by President Bush in 2002. A prominent Houston-based business and civic leader, Mr. Zeidman is the former Chairman of the Board of Seitel, Inc. and Chairman of Turnaround Partners, Inc. In 2004 he joined Greenberg Traurig as Senior Managing Director of Governmental Affairs. He serves on the Jewish National Fund’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee. He is also National Board Member, Development Corporation for Israel; Texas State Chairman, Israel Bonds; and Vice Chairman, Republican Jewish Coalition. He serves on the Executive Committee of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). He served on the U.S. delegation to the 2004 Antisemitism Conference in Berlin, sponsored by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Joel M. Geiderman, M.D., Los Angeles, CA, has served as Council Vice Chairman since 2005 and has been on the Council since 2002. Dr. Geiderman is a nationally recognized leader in the specialty of emergency medicine. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the Professional Council of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation. In 1997 Dr. Geiderman was honored as “Humanitarian of the Year” by the United Hostesses’ Charities, and in 2004 the Sheba Medical Center in Israel recognized him with its Medical Visionary award. Dr. Geiderman’s mother, Helen, survived the Holocaust and was liberated from Bergen-Belsen in 1945.

Miriam Adelson, M.D., Las Vegas, NV, a specialist in internal medicine and substance addiction, is the Founder and Chairperson of the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Clinic, a heroin addiction treatment facility with centers in Tel Aviv and Las Vegas. She has served as Emergency Room Head Physician at Rokach Hospital in Tel Aviv and has published numerous scientific papers on drug addiction and treatment. She is married to Sheldon G. Adelson, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, who served on the Council from 2002-2007.

Tom A. Bernstein, New York, NY, is Co-Founder and President of Chelsea Piers Management, Inc., formed in 1992, to develop and operate the Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment Complex. He has been a member of the Council since 2002 and Chairman of the Museum’s Committee on Conscience since February 2003. He serves on the Board of Directors of Human Rights First, WNYC Radio (New York’s public radio station), The Fresh Air Fund, and the Partnership for Public Service. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Carol Cohen, Highland Park, IL, is a long-time supporter of the arts in Chicago. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; the Women’s Board of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago; the Jewish Community Centers of Chicago; and the Lynn Sage Cancer Research Foundation, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago. She also serves on the Print and Drawing Committee of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Michael J. Gerson, Alexandria, VA, is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He also serves on the Museum’s Committee on Conscience. Prior to joining the Council, Gerson held several senior positions in President George W. Bush’s administration including assistant to the President for policy and strategic planning; assistant to the president for speechwriting and policy advisor; deputy assistant to the President; and director of presidential speechwriting. He was previously senior editor covering politics at U.S. News and World Report. Gerson was a speechwriter and policy advisory for Jack Kemp and a speechwriter for Bob Dole during the 1996 presidential campaign.

Zvi Gitelman, Ann Arbor, MI, is professor of political science and the Preston R. Tisch Professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has held prestigious fellowships at universities worldwide and was the 2005-2006 J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Scholar in Residence at the Museum’s Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. He has authored or edited numerous scholarly articles and several books, including A Century of Ambivalence: The Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union since 1881; Bitter Legacy: Confronting the Holocaust in the Soviet Union; The Emergence of Modern Jewish Politics: Bundism and Zionism in Eastern Europe; Jewish Life After the USSR; and New Jewish Identities in Contemporary Europe.

William S. Levine, Paradise Valley, AZ, along with partner Artie Moreno, founded Outdoor Systems, the largest outdoor media company in the U.S., which was acquired by Viacom. Levine is active in real estate investments and development and operates several business ventures including a security alarm business and an Arizona-based, privately owned water utility business. Additionally, he is a minority owner of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He is the president of the William S. and Ina Levine Charitable Foundation which supports Jewish, educational and cultural organizations nationwide and established the Museum’s Ina Levine Invitational Scholarship in 2003 in memory of his wife.

Jeff Wilpon, Greenwich, CT, is the New York Mets’ Chief Operating Officer. He is also the Chief Operating Officer of Queens Ballpark Company, L.L.C., a wholly owned subsidiary of the New York Mets, responsible for the planning, design, development and construction of Citi Field, the Mets’ new home opening in 2009. He also serves as Executive Vice President at Sterling Equities and on the Boards of a number of non-profit organizations and institutions, including the New York Hall of Science; NYC & Co.; the Greenwich Country Day School; and the Association for a Better New York.