New Chairman and Vice Chairman Elected

Washington, D.C. – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today announced the addition of Orson Swindle to its Board of Directors.  CAGW’s Board of Directors also elected George S. Goldberger as its new chairman and Patrick P. Grace as its vice-chairman. 

Mr. Swindle served as a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission from December 1997 to June 2005.  He served in the Reagan Administration from 1981 to 1989 directing financial-assistance programs to economically distressed rural and municipal communities.  His positions were Georgia State Director of the Farmers Home Administration for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development.

In 1992, Mr. Swindle was national spokesperson for Ross Perot’s presidential campaign.  He was the first national leader of United We Stand America and helped form Empower America in 1993.  In 1994 and 1996, he was the Republican candidate for Congress in Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District.

As a Marine aviator, Mr. Swindle was shot down over North Vietnam in 1966 and held Prisoner of War in Hanoi for six years and four months.  He retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1979 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.  He was awarded more than 20 military decorations for valor in combat.  

Mr. Swindle is currently senior policy advisor for Hunton & Williams LLP, chairman of information security projects in the Center for Information Policy Leadership, a Distinguished Fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation, and sits on the board of directors of RSA Security, Inc.

“We at Citizens Against Government Waste are honored to have Orson Swindle on our Board of Directors,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “His extraordinary military career, public service, and involvement with grassroots movements are a unique combination of experiences that will greatly benefit CAGW’s more than one million members and supporters.  ”

Both Mr. Goldberger and Mr. Grace worked on the President’s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control (“Grace Commission”) from 1982-1984.  Mr. Goldberger is a former president of CAGW (1986-1989) and worked as an assistant to CAGW co-founder J. Peter Grace prior to joining CAGW.  He is the chief financial officer of Progenitor Cell Therapy, Inc.  Mr. Grace has served on CAGW’s Board of Directors since his father’s death in 1995, carrying on his family’s commitment to the organization.  Mr. Grace is the president of MLP Capital, Inc. 

Schatz added, “I am pleased that George and Patrick have agreed to assume the leading roles on our Board.  They have been dedicated to winning the war on wasteful spending literally since the day Ronald Reagan formed the Grace Commission in 1982.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.