By Kay Scrimger
July 19, 2010

President Barack Obama has appointed Victor Ashe, a Conference of Mayors Past President, former Knoxville (TN) Mayor and U.S. Ambassador to Poland, to serve on the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the federal agency that supervises all U.S. civilian international broadcasting.

The Board of Governors is a bipartisan board of nine members appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The ninth member is the Secretary of State, who serves ex officio.

The longest serving mayor of Knoxville (1988-2003), Ashe headed the Conference of Mayors as its President in 1994-1995, and received the Conference’s Distinguished Service Award for Leadership in 2003.

In 2004, President George W. Bush appointed Ashe to serve as Ambassador to Poland, a post he held until October 2009. While Ambassador, he traveled to almost every city and town in Poland at least once, and met with mayors, other local leaders, and the Polish people. He established strong ties with Poland’s President and other national leaders, cultural leaders, the corporate sector, and a host of others.

Ashe also serves on the Board of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the American Rivers Association. He is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Tennessee’s College of Law in 1974.

In addition to Ashe, the other seven appointees to the BBG are Walter Isaacson, BBG Chair, President of the Aspen Institute; Michael Lynton, Chair and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment; Susan McCue, President of Message Global; Michael P. Meehan, President of Blue Line Strategic Communications, Inc. and Senior Vice President of Virilion; Dennis Mulhaupt, founder and Managing Director of Commonwealth Partners, Inc.; Dana Perino, founder of Dana Perino and Company, and former White House Press Secretary to President George W. Bush; and S. Enders Wimbush, Senior Vice President at the Hudson Institute.

The BBG is an independent federal agency that supervises all U.S. government'supported, civilian international broadcasting. Its mission is to “promote freedom and democracy and to enhance understanding through multimedia communication of accurate, objective and balanced news, information and other programming about America and the world to audiences overseas.” (http://www.bbg.gov).

Its broadcasts reach an audience of 171 million in 100 countries. Its organizations include the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Radio Free Asia and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.

The Martha H. Ashe Garden was officially dedicated in memory of the Ambassador’s mother at the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum on July 10 in a ceremony and reception, attended by members of the Ashe family and about 300 Knoxville notables. “My mother’s love of beauty and gardening and her strong civic pride and service to her community were values she instilled in my brother and me at an early age,” Ashe said.

An avid gardener, Martha H. Ashe was President of the Knoxville Garden Club and later of the Jupiter Island Garden Club of Hobe Sound (FL). She was the first woman to serve on the Board of Trustees at Carson-Newman College.

In addition to her activism and numerous efforts to beautify and improve Knoxville, she was the first woman ever elected to the Tennessee State Senate from Knox County. Elected in 1974, she was also the first Republican woman to serve in the Tennessee Senate and was the first public affairs director of WBIR-TV Channel 10 in Knoxville. She died on August 6, 2004.

Ambassador and Mrs. Ashe have two children – their son, J. Victor, and their daughter, Martha, named for her grandmother. Martha spoke at the dedication ceremony and read an essay she had written for a class several years ago entitled “All Marthas Wear Bows.” In her essay, Martha attributed her “sassiness” and “independence” to her grandmother.

Among his many accomplishments and honors, Ashe is well-known for his ardent dedication to the environment, conservation, and especially parks. His commitment led to the city’s dedication of a park in his honor in 2004, the Victor Ashe Park, located in northwest Knoxville on Bradshaw Road.