Attorney Michael Hanson will lead the new Human Rights Commission board, Government announced yesterday.Meanwhile, lawyer Kim Simmons will act as his deputy.Other Commission members include Donna Daniels, Pamela Fowkes, Darcy Gimas, lawyer Richard Horseman, Jens Juul, lawyer Kai Musson, Naomi Schroter, Louis Somner, lawyer Tawana Tannock and Millard Thomas.The selection process was open to the public for the first time in the Commission’s history, due to changes in the Human Rights Act which came into effect last October.The change in the law provided for an independent selection and appointment committee to recruit, interview and appoint the Commissioners, at least one-third of whom have to be members of the Bermuda Bar.Recruitment chair William Madeiros said the committee received more than 120 applications from members of the public for the 12-member Commission.“While this made our job more difficult, it also allowed us to construct a very competent and capable board,” he said.“The truth is, we were overwhelmed by the quality of the applicants. We had a tremendously difficult time in narrowing down the candidates from such a robust group of applicants.“The recruitment process clearly identified the tremendous amount of interest in human rights as evidenced by the many talented and engaged advocates working in the community.”Along with serving as members of Human Rights Tribunals, adjudicating complaints under the Human Rights Act, the Commissioners are expected to serve as educators and advocate for human rights.Mr Hanson said yesterday that he was “very honoured” to be named the new chair for the Commission.The board was previously chaired by Michelle Scott-Outerbridge with lawyer Marc Daniels, now a Progressive Labour Party Senator, acting as deputy chairman.