By Tribune Staff
WASHINGTON, DC — President Joe Biden announced recently the appointment of Nashville businessman William H. “Bill” Freeman to the board of the J. William Fulbright Scholarship Awards.
Bill Freeman co-founded the Freeman-Webb Co. with the late Jimmy Webb. The company is a private real estate investment firm specializing in multi-family and commercial properties. In 2018, the pair bought the Nashville weekly alternative paper The Nashville Scene, Nashville Post and NFocus magazine, creating FW Publishing.
In 2015, Freeman ran for Mayor of Nashville, coming in third and barely missing a runoff election. He has been a supporter of local, state, and national Democratic candidates and causes for years and played a key role in Biden’s 2020 campaign.
The Fulbright Awards are named after Democratic Sen. William Fulbright, a Rhodes Scholar who represented Arkansas in the U.S. Senate 1945-1972.
Appointed by the President of the United States, the 12-member Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board was established by Congress to supervise the global Fulbright Program as authorized by the Fulbright-Hays Act of 1961 and meets quarterly to establish policies for Fulbright selection and operating procedures.
Representing diverse facets of American society, Board members select students, scholars, teachers, and others from the United States and abroad to participate in Fulbright exchanges. In close relationship with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. embassies, bilateral Fulbright Commissions in host countries and the U.S. Department of Education’s International and Foreign Language Office of Postsecondary Education, the Board prepares an annual report and promotes the Fulbright Program to audiences around the world.
