For Immediate Release
December 6, 2006

Contact: Lisa Gough
(202) 393-0090 , ext. 109

THREE BUSINESS LEADERS NAMED
TO VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL CORPORATE COUNCIL

Washington, D.C. – Business leaders R. Thomas Buffenbarger, Clara Conti and Ben Medley have been named to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Corporate Council, announced Memorial Fund Founder and President Jan Scruggs.

The three new Corporate Council members will be introduced at the Memorial Fund’s Eighth Annual Corporate Council Meeting at the New York Stock Exchange on December 8.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Corporate Council was established as an advisory board to provide leadership support for programs sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.  The council members, many of whom are Vietnam veterans, work to advance the mission of the Memorial Fund in preserving the legacy of the Memorial, promoting healing and educating about the effects of the Vietnam War. 

Council members serve as a resource to the Memorial Fund, making personal and corporate contributions and assisting with charitable foundation relationships. They take part in ceremonies and other Memorial Fund initiatives, lending their insight and expertise to a variety of Memorial Fund programs. Guiding and supporting these important efforts, Council members have an impact on our nation, particularly on America’s future generations of leaders.

“The Corporate Council was established on the 15th anniversary of The Wall,” Scruggs noted. “The support and assistance of its members has been vital in moving our organization forward as we embark on new projects and educational challenges.”

R. Thomas Buffenbarger became the youngest international president in the 117-year history of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers when he took the helm in 1997, at the age of 46. Today, he leads more than 700,000 active and retired IAMAW members in Canada and the United States.

He is a member of the executive council of the AFL-CIO and was instrumental in launching the New Alliance, a program designed to increase the AFL-CIO’s impact at the grassroots level. In 2001, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on The Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry. He is also a member of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Advisory Committee to the International Monetary Fund.

Clara Conti is the first woman CEO to serve on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Corporate Council.  She is the president and CEO of IPIX Corporation in Reston, Va. IPIX is a world-class provider of security, surveillance and visualization systems.

Conti joined IPIX in 2004 with over 20 years of experience in the field. She is a nationally recognized expert on security and the technologies used to guard critical infrastructure, and she has appeared on Fox News and ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Ben Medley is the CEO of MedleyJarvis Industries Inc., a company he formed in January 2005 to pursue federal government business services. MedleyJarvis has offices in Texas, California and Louisiana.

Previously, Medley was the president of DynCorp Technical Services in Fort Worth, Texas, a company providing services to the U.S. military and federal government agencies. Before that, he spent 28 years with Tracor/BAE Systems, where he was president of Tracor Flight Systems. He was in the U.S. Navy until 1967.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund was established in 1979 as the nonprofit organization authorized by Congress to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Today, through a series of outreach programs, it is dedicated to preserving the legacy of The Wall, promoting healing, educating about the impact of the Vietnam War and is building the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center, an underground education facility near The Wall.

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