Clinton administration staffer to speak (03/10/96)

Clinton administration staffer to speak

NEWARK, N.J. - Melanne Starinshak Verveer will speak and show slides at a public meeting in Newark about President Bill Clinton's and the First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's state visit to Ukraine in 1995 where she went with them in her official capacity.

Mr. Verveer, who is of Ukrainian heritage, is currently deputy assistant to the President and deputy chief of staff to the first lady.

The meeting will be held on March 16, at 4 p.m. in the gymnasium of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School, Sandford Avenue, Newark, N.J. The event is sponsored by Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine, the Ukrainian American Association of Professionals and Businesspersons of New York and New Jersey and Branch 75 of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America.

Ms. Verveer brings prestigious and lengthy experience into her position in the White House. Prior to her present position she served as special projects coordinator to Mrs. Clinton during the presidential transition and as an issues adviser during the Clinton-Gore campaign. She previously served as executive vice-president and public policy director for the constitutional liberties group, People for the American Way.

Prior to joining People for the American Way, Ms. Verveer worked in a variety of positions on Capitol Hill and in the public interest community. She was legislative director to Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), coordinator of civil rights and urban affairs at the U.S. Catholic Conference and field manager of Common Cause.

Ms. Verveer has served on the boards of many non-profit organizations and is a founding member of the Coalition on Human Needs. She served on the boards of directors of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Advocacy Institute, Public Allies and Network, among others. In 1989, she was named to "Beachman's Guide to Key Lobbyists."

Melanne Starinshak Verveer was raised in Shamokin, Pa., where she attended Transfiguration Ukrainian School. She received her high school diploma from St. Mary's Villa Academy in Sloatsburg, N.Y. Both schools were run by the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate.

Her maternal and paternal grandparents were born in Ukraine, emigrated to the U.S. at the turn of the century and settled in Pennsylvania.

Ms. Verveer received her master's and bachelor's degrees at Georgetown University. She and her husband, Philip, a Washington attorney, have three children.

The book "Appointment With Power" noted: "...No First Lady has ever been as deeply involved in the substantive issues of government as Hillary Rodham Clinton, and certainly no first lady's staff ever had a political operative of the caliber and experience of Melanne Verveer."

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