“There are no more important programs than Social Security and Medicare for our collective economic and social welfare,” Palmer says, “and I’m honored that the President has confidence in my ability to continue to serve the nation in this crucial position.”

Palmer was first appointed to the Board in 2000 by President Clinton, along with Thomas Saving, an economist at Texas A&M. President Bush reappointed both men yesterday.

Palmer has extensive public and private sector leadership on issues relating to economic, budgetary, and social policy. He has a longstanding professional interest in both Social Security and Medicare and, 20 years ago, wrote one of the first studies calling attention to the challenges of our aging population to retirement and health care financing. Palmer was a founding member of the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education organization made up of the nation’s leading experts in this area. He served on the NASI Board of Directors from 1997-2005 and as its president from 1997-1999.

Palmer was Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the Department of Health and Human Services from 1979-1981 and served as the agency’s Director of Income Security Policy in the early 1970s. He was also a senior fellow at The Urban Institute and The Brookings Institution. Palmer served the Maxwell School as Dean from 1988 until 2003.

Palmer has published 13 books and more than 50 articles on a wide range of social science and public policy topics, testified before Congress on numerous occasions, and served on various committees of the National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council and the Social Science Research Council. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Palmer earned a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University in 1971 and a B.A. in mathematics in 1965 from Williams College

The Maxwell School of Syracuse University is the premier academic institution in the United States committed to scholarship, civic leadership, and education in public and international affairs. Maxwell is home to Syracuse University’s social science departments and to numerous nationally recognized multidisciplinary graduate programs in public policy, international studies, social policy, and conflict resolution. Maxwell's graduate program in public administration -- the first of its kind in the nation -- is ranked consistently the leading graduate public affairs program in the country.