Hero of the Week: Oprah Winfrey
I love Oprah. You love Oprah. The Smithsonian loves Oprah...and they have 12 million plus reasons to do so.That's because the philanthropist and media mogul is donating $12 million to them.Combined with the $1 million she gave in 2007, it is the museum’s largest donation.
Ground was broken on the five-acre site, adjacent to the Washington Monument, in February 2012. Congressional funding accounts for half of the museum’s $500 million design, construction and exhibition costs. The museum is raising the remaining $250 million.The museum has received a $10 million donation from both the Gates Foundation and the Lilly Endowment.The Museum of African American History and Culture, which hosts a gallery at the National Museum of American History, is scheduled to open in 2015 (um, I can't wait for it).Advisory council co-chairs are Linda Johnson Rice, president and CEO ofJohnson Publishing Company Inc., and Richard D. Parsons, former chairman of Citigroup. Other members are:• Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), U.S. House of Representatives• Willie Brown, Jr., former mayor of San Francisco• Laura W. Bush, former First Lady of the United States of America• James Ireland Cash, Jr., retired professor and senior associate dean of Harvard BusinessSchool Publishing• Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and CEO of American Express Co.• G. Wayne Clough, secretary, Smithsonian Institution• Ann M. Fudge, retired chairman and CEO of Young & Rubicam Inc.• Allan C. Golston, president, U.S. Programs, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation• James A. Johnson, vice chairman of Perseus LLC• Robert L. Johnson, founder and chairman of RLJ Companies and founder of BlackEntertainment Television Inc.SI-125-2013 3• Quincy D. Jones, CEO of Quincy Jones Productions Inc.• Ann Dibble Jordan, executive committee member, National Symphony Orchestra• Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund• Brian T. Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America• Homer Alfred Neal, director of the University of Michigan Atlas Project and professor ofphysics• E. Stanley O’Neal, former chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.• Samuel J. Palmisano, chairman and CEO of IBM Corp.• Gen. Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State• Franklin D. Raines, former chairman and CEO of Fannie Mae• Ruth J. Simmons, president of Brown University• Gregg W. Steinhafel, chair, CEO and president of Target
