The commission shall consist of members including: a senator appointed by the speaker of the senate and a representative appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives; the commissioner of education; a vice chancellor of the University of Tennessee and a vice president of the board of regents; and twelve (12) public members appointed by the governor. The public members shall be Tennessee residents, with due regard to broad geographic representation, who have served prominently as spokespersons for, or as leaders of organizations that serve members of, religious, ethnic, national heritage or social groups that were subjected to genocide, torture, wrongful deprivation of liberty or property, officially imposed or sanctioned violence and other forms of human rights violations and persecution at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators during the Nazi era, or they shall be residents who are experienced in the field of Holocaust education, or representative of liberators of victims of the Holocaust, such as veterans organizations.