Salem did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
The creation of the Board is part of Obama's push to cut waste in the government, according to the press release. Board members will advise Obama as well as the President's Management Council, which includes officials from governmental agencies and departments.
The recently-created Management Advisory Board is composed of 11 leaders of diverse private and non-profit businesses including the Red Cross Association, Pfizer and Motorola Solutions, Inc., according to a White House press release. Salem is the president and CEO of Symantec, a company that designs anti-virus computer software, according to the company's website.
The Board meets periodically to "analyze key performance issues facing the federal government," according to its website.
The Advisory Board is chaired by Jeffrey Zients, the Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget, according the President's Management Advisory Board's website. Zients also has experience in the private sector, having served as the director of Sirius XM Satellite Radio and Revolution Health.
Obama began the initiative to bring private and non-profit CEOs into advisory roles in the government in January 2010, when he invited more than 50 CEOs of diverse businesses to Washington, D.C. for the White House Forum on Modernizing Government, according to a January 2010 press release. At the forum, CEOs engaged in discussion groups centered around various topics such as streamlining governmental operations, according to the press release.
Salem's mother, Helen Salem, said various aspects of her son's time at Dartmouth had a positive influence on his life and helped prepare him in his career path. Salem majored in computer science at the College.
"Dartmouth opened doors for him," she said, citing her son's off-term internship with a computer company in Hartford, Conn., as an important shaping experience.
Originally from Colombia, Salem's family moved to California on a four-year work visa when he was a young child, according to his mother. Although they planned to return to Colombia, the family members stayed in Los Angeles and renewed the work visa before eventually settling permanently, Helen Salem said.
Representatives from Symantec did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
