CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Leon Panetta, who served as White House Chief of Staff under former President Bill Clinton, will be the keynote speaker at the Law of the Sea Institute Conference (LOSI) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Thursday, March 22 through Saturday, March 24.
           
Panetta, the highest-ranking member of former president Bill Clinton’s staff from 1994 to 1997, will speak at an invitation-only luncheon Friday afternoon in the University Center Ballroom. He will provide his views on how the United States can establish a more effective and integrated ocean and coastal governance system.

“This conference will bring together some of the world’s most respected experts on the international law of the sea to discuss unresolved issues and challenges in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean,” said Dr. Richard McLoughlin, Endowed Chair for Marine Policy and Law. “We are very pleased to have someone with Leon Panetta’s stature address our conference.  He is a very influential figure in the field of ocean policy and law.”

Panetta, who last year served on the “Baker Commission” Iraq Study Group appointed by President George W. Bush, began his political career as a legislative assistant to former California Sen. Thomas Kuchel. He rose through the Republican ranks to become the director of civil rights in the Nixon administration before leaving Washington in 1970 become executive assistant to New York Mayor John Lindsey.

In 1976 Panetta switched to the Democratic Party the following year and was elected to represent California’s 16th Congressional District. He was re-elected nine times before leaving politics in 1998 to form the Leon and Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy, a non-partisan center for the study of public policy aimed at helping communities and the entire country meet the challenges of the 21st century.

He was Chairman of the Pew Oceans Commission and serves now as co-chair of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative as well as on a number of national boards.  He has received many awards and honors including the Peter Burnett Award for Distinguished Public Service, the Distinguished Public Service Medal from the Center for the Study of the Presidency, the Smithsonian Institution National Portrait Gallery Paul Peck Presidential Award, the John H. Chafee Coastal Stewardship Award, the Julius A. Stratton Award for Coastal Leadership the Aquarium of the Pacific Ocean Conservation Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

The University’s Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies will host the three-day LOSI conference which will feature panel discussions and presentations on unresolved issues and challenges in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Scheduled participants include judges from the International Law of the Sea Tribunal, leading scholars from U.S. and international universities, government officials from several nations, representatives from leading non-government organizations, and energy industry leaders from the United States and Mexico. Other scheduled conference speakers include Judge Tullio Treves of the International Law of the Sea Tribunal and Dr. Sylvia Earle, chair of the Harte Research Institute Advisory Council.

LOSI, which has its headquarters at the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California-Berkley, is an international consortium of scholars that has played a major role in developing ocean law since the early 1970s.