Hon. Leon E. Panetta

(1938 - )

Panetta is founder and director of the Panetta Institute for the study of public policy. In 1994, President Clinton appointed him White House chief of staff; he was previously director of the Office of Management and Budget. From 1977 to 1993, he represented California in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he authored legislation that established Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for hospice care. A lawyer in private practice before his election to Congress, he was previously special assistant to the secretary of health, education and welfare and then director of the U.S. Office of Civil Rights, an experience he described in his 1971 book Bring Us Together.