Bush Picks Costa Rica
Ambassador to Run
Presidential Library
U.S. president, George
W. Bush, has picked a
former Dallas neighbor –
now his ambassador to
Costa Rica, Mark
Langdale – to run the
presidential library
being planned at
Southern Methodist
University, the library
foundation announced
Friday morning.
"Ambassador Langdale
brings strong leadership
skills to the library
effort," Mr. Bush said
in a statement issued
Friday morning.
Mr. Langdale will serve
as president of the
George W. Bush
Presidential Library
Foundation starting Jan.
1, overseeing daily
operations, hiring
staff, managing
construction and
coordinating with the
National Archives.
He and Mr. Bush met more
than two decades ago
when they lived near
each other in Dallas.
The president called him
a "good friend" and said
his experience in
business and real estate
development will prepare
him for the complexity
of the project – an
archive, museum and
policy institute whose
price tag by some
estimates could reach
us$500 million.
Mr. Langdale has served
as ambassador to Costa
Rica since 2005. A
graduate of the
University of Texas at
Austin and the
University of Houston
law school, he has
worked as a lawyer in
Houston and co-founded
CapRock Communications
Corp., a satellite
communications provider.
Before Mr. Bush named
him his emissary to
Costa Rica, Mr. Langdale
was president of Posadas
USA Inc., the U.S.
subsidiary of a hotel
operator based in Mexico
City, Grupo Posadas. He
will resign as
ambassador to Costa Rica
by the end of the year.
"I look forward to
overseeing the library
foundation as it
develops a presidential
library that will
provide historians
access to important
documents and
information about the
American presidency and
our 43d president," Mr.
Langdale said in the
statement issued by the
foundation.
Langdale will resign as
ambassador by the end of
the year to work
full-time on the
library, where
presidential documents
will be stored and
studied, and where the
president's legacy will
be nurtured and shaped.
A related policy
institute will "offer a
place for world leaders,
scholars and experts to
discuss, debate and
advance public policy
ideas," according to a
statement from the Bush
foundation. |
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