Media Relations
Press Release:
MEDIA CONTACT: Polly Burks
561-297-2595, pburks@fau.edu
FAU History Graduate Appointed
U.S. Ambassador
BOCA RATON, FL (November 1, 2010) –
FAU
graduate Robert M. (Skipp) Orr was recently sworn in as U.S.
Executive Director to the Asian Development Bank, with the rank
of ambassador. Orr was selected by President Obama for this
position earlier this year and later confirmed by the Senate. Orr
graduated with a B.A. in History, cum laude, from Florida
Atlantic University in 1976.
“The history department at FAU was the foundation of my
education at the upper level,” said Orr. “The
fact that I have been appointed by the president of the United
States to this position has less to do with me than with the
value of studying history, which is, in my opinion, the best
undergraduate degree one should seek. I want to have my
appointment noted less for me than for the value of studying
history. A history major is so expansive.”
From 2007-2010, Orr was chairman of the Board of the Panasonic
Foundation and concurrently vice chair of the National
Association of Japan-America Societies, a member of the Board of
Trustees of J.F. Obirin University and a member of the Board of
the East-West Center Foundation. From January 2002 until March
2007, Orr was president of Boeing Japan.
He held this position during the development of the most
successfully selling airplane in history, the 787 Dreamliner, 35
percent of which is made in Japan. Prior to joining Boeing, Orr
was vice president and director of European affairs for Motorola
based in Brussels. And previous to this, he held various senior
level posts with Motorola in Japan, culminating as Vice President
of Government Relations. In that capacity, he successfully led
the negotiations that opened up the cellular phone market in
Japan.
In addition to the corporate world, Orr also has spent many years
in academia and the U. S. government. Between 1985 and 1993, he
was a professor of political science at Temple University in
Japan with two years off to run the Kyoto Center for Japanese
Studies and the Stanford Center for Technology and Innovation at
the Stanford Japan Center in Kyoto. His book
The Emergence of Japan’s Foreign Aid Power,
published by Columbia University Press, won the 1991 Ohira Prize
for best book on the Asia Pacific.
Orr’s career began in 1976 when he served for two years as
legislative assistant to Congressman Paul G. Rogers (D-FL), a 12
term member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Between 1978
and 1981, he served on the House Foreign Affairs Asia
Subcommittee staff seconded from the Select Committee on
Narcotics. In 1981, Orr was appointed as special assistant to the
Assistant Administrator of Asia in the U.S. Agency for
International Development in the Department of State.
Orr holds a B.A. in History, cum laude, from FAU, an M.A. in
government from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. in political
science from Tokyo University. He speaks German and Japanese
fluently, and has intermediate French.
Orr’s wife, Mitsuko, of 34 years and he, along with their
Golden Retriever, Marina, reside in Manila, Philippines,
headquarters of the ADB, and maintain residences in Kamakura,
Japan and at their other home near Pau in Southwestern France.
For more information about the department of history at FAU, call
561-297-3840.
-FAU-
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University opened its doors in 1964 as the
fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University serves
more than 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students on seven
campuses and sites. Building on its rich tradition as a teaching
university, with a world-class faculty, FAU hosts 10 colleges:
the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters, the College
of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the
College of Education, the College of Engineering
& Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L.
Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of
Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. For more information,
visit
www.fau.edu
.
