Obama names alumnus to advisory board

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Shantanu Narayen, Bowling Green State University alumnus and president and CEO of Adobe Systems, Inc., has been appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on a new advisory board meant to help streamline government operations and better serve taxpayers.

Narayen was appointed with nine other corporate leaders to the president’s Management Advisory Board, which was created by executive order last year and is the first group of its kind in the nation. The board was modeled after a similar board in Australia, in which industry leaders advise the prime minister on how to apply business best practices to federal operations.

Narayen joined the group for their first meeting March 11 to discuss ways to improve government efficiency.

Narayen earned his master’s degree in computer science from BGSU in 1986. Before joining Adobe, he was co-founder of Pictra Inc. and is known as an early pioneer of online photo sharing. Narayen was selected among 100 of the most prominent alumni in celebration of the centennial anniversary of BGSU. He is scheduled to visit campus for commencement May 7, and will be presented with an honorary doctorate degree during the ceremony.

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(Posted March 17, 2011 )