Pay czar will chair JFK Library Foundation

Kenneth R. Feinberg, the Brockton native currently known as President Obama's "pay czar," has been unanimously elected to be the new chairman of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation by the foundation's board.

Feinberg, 64, is founder and managing partner of Feinberg Rozen LLP, a law firm specializing in mediation, arbitration, and alternative dispute resolution, the foundation said, and he currently serves as the Obama Administration’s Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation - a.k.a. the “pay czar.” In his capacity of pay czar, Feinberg oversees the compensation of top executives at companies that have received federal bailout assistance.

As the chairman of the JFK Library Foundation, Feinberg succeeds Paul G. Kirk Jr., who resigned as board chairman in September when Governor Deval L. Patrick appointed him interim US Senator from Massachusetts. Feinberg's resume includes a stint as an administrative assistant and chief of staff for Edward M. Kennedy, the late US Senator from Massachusetts.

The Kennedy Library Foundation’s board of directors meets formally three times per year, and Feinberg has served as a foundation board member for four years before being elected chairman. Board members volunteer their services and are not compensated, the foundation said.

The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization founded in 1984 to provide financial support, staffing, and creative resources for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, a federal institution under the National Archives. (Globe Staff)