Joe Biden has nominated Entertainment One’s Michael Lombardo to serve as a member of the National Council on The Arts, which oversees the National Endowment for the Arts.
Lombardo, who is president of global television at Entertainment One, previously served as president of programming at HBO for 12 years. After he left HBO he was an executive producer.
On a trip to Los Angeles in 2012, Biden met with LGBTQ activists at the home of Lombardo and his husband, architect Sonny Ward. Weeks later during a Meet the Press interview, Biden signaled his support for same-sex marriage, mentioning meeting the Lombardo-Ward family and telling the couple that he saw the “look of love those kids had in their eyes” for their parents.
Lombardo and Ward hosted Biden at their home again in 2019 for a fundraiser.
Lombardo was appointed a member of the board of trustees to the Kennedy Center by President Barack Obama in 2014.
The National Council on the Arts also makes recommendations to the president for the annual National Medal of Arts. Lombardo’s nomination requires Senate confirmation. The 18 members of the council serve six-year terms, and continue to serve if no replacement is confirmed.
Biden has nominated a number of members to the council since taking office. Among them are Artistic director Kamilah Forbes, who has been confirmed and took the place of Lee Greenwood. Musician Gretchen Gonzales Davidson has been confirmed but not yet sworn in, and will take the place of Sony Pictures’ Tom Rothman.
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