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Erskine Bowles | |
|---|---|
 Bowles in 2010 | |
| 16th President of theUniversity of North Carolina | |
| In office October 3, 2005 – December 31, 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Molly Corbett Broad |
| Succeeded by | Thomas W. Ross |
| Co-Chair of theNational Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform | |
| In office February 18, 2010 – December 1, 2010 Serving with Alan Simpson | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| 19thWhite House Chief of Staff | |
| In office January 20, 1997 – October 20, 1998 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Deputy | Sylvia Burwell John Podesta |
| Preceded by | Leon Panetta |
| Succeeded by | John Podesta |
| White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations | |
| In office October 3, 1994 – January 11, 1996 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Philip Lader |
| Succeeded by | Evelyn S. Lieberman |
| 18thAdministrator of the Small Business Administration | |
| In office May 12, 1993 – October 6, 1994 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Deputy | Cassandra M. Pulley |
| Preceded by | Pat Saiki |
| Succeeded by | Philip Lader |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1945-08-08)August 8, 1945 (age 80) |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent |
|
| Education | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BA) Columbia University (MBA) |
Erskine Boyce Bowles (/ˈɜːrskɪnˌboʊlz/URR-skinBOWLS; born August 8, 1945) is an American businessman and political figure fromNorth Carolina. He served as the 19thWhite House chief of staff from January 1997 to October 1998, under PresidentBill Clinton, and as the president of theUniversity of North Carolina system from 2005 to 2010.[1] He also ran unsuccessfully for theUnited States Senate in2002 and2004 to represent North Carolina.
In 2010, Bowles served as the Democratic co-chair of PresidentBarack Obama'sNational Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform withAlan Simpson.[2] Bowles and Simpson founded an advocacy group, The Campaign to Fix the Debt.[3]
Bowles was born and raised inGreensboro, North Carolina, and is the son of Jessamine Woodward Boyce Bowles andSkipper Bowles, aDemocratic politician who ran unsuccessfully for Governor of North Carolina in 1972. Siblings include Hargrove Bowles III, Mary Holland Bowles Blanton and the late Martha Thomas Bowles. Bowles graduated fromVirginia Episcopal School before attending theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of theZeta Psi fraternity and graduated with a business degree. After briefly serving in theUnited States Coast Guard, Bowles then enrolled inColumbia Business School, where he earned anMBA.
Following graduation, Bowles worked for the financial firmMorgan Stanley in New York City, where he met his future wife, Crandall Close. The two married in 1971 and moved to North Carolina, where Bowles worked on his father's 1972 gubernatorial campaign. Crandall and Erskine have three children. In 1975, Bowles helped launch the investment banking firm ofBowles Hollowell Conner, and remained in the corporate sector until the 1990s.
In 1992, Bowles became more involved in politics as a fundraiser forBill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign. President Clinton appointed Bowles to head theSmall Business Administration in 1993. From October 1994 to December 1995, Bowles served as Clinton'sWhite House Deputy Chief of Staff, in the first term of theClinton Administration. After briefly returning toCharlotte, North Carolina, where he helped found the private equity firm, Carousel Capital, Bowles was appointed Clinton'sChief of Staff in December 1996. One of Bowles's major responsibilities was dealing with federal budget negotiations between the White House and Congress. Bowles returned to Charlotte and to the field of finance again in October 1998. He was also asked by North Carolina GovernorJim Hunt to head a task force on rural economic prosperity.
Although initially reluctant to seek political office, Bowles reconsidered a run for theUnited States Senate after theSeptember 11 attacks and, in October 2001, declared his candidacy for the Senate as aDemocratic candidate. Seeking to fill the seat being vacated byJesse Helms, Bowles secured the party's nomination, but was defeated in the 2002 general election byRepublican contenderElizabeth Dole.
In 2004, Bowles campaigned again for the Senate, seeking to fill the seat being vacated by fellow DemocratJohn Edwards. He faced RepublicanRichard Burr andLibertarian Tom Bailey in a hotly contested race. The final month of the Senate campaign saw both Bowles's and Burr's campaigns turn strongly negative, with Burr's campaign attacking Bowles's associations with the Clinton administration, while Bowles's campaign attacked Burr on his support of trade legislation and special interest donations. Both campaigns spent a great deal of money, making it one of the most expensive statewide races in North Carolina history.
Despite an early lead in the polls after the primaries, as well as fellow DemocratMike Easley running for a second term as governor at the top of the state party ticket, Bowles was defeated in the 2004 race as well. In 2005 Bowles accepted an appointment as United Nations Deputy Special Envoy forTsunami-affected Countries, once again working for Bill Clinton who was now serving as U.N. Special Envoy.
On October 3, 2005, Bowles was elected by theUniversity of North Carolina Board of Governors to succeedMolly Corbett Broad as President of the system, even though some suggest that the Board of Governors broke the law in not holding public hearings in the hiring process.[4] One of his most significant appointments was that ofHolden Thorp as the tenth chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who resigned on September 17, 2012 in the wake of several athletics-related scandals.[5] Bowles also spoke at the campus memorial service in memory of slain student body presidentEve Carson.
On February 12, 2010, Bowles announced his retirement from the UNC System.[6][7] Bowles was replaced byThomas W. Ross.[8]
Bowles was appointed in 2010 to co-chair PresidentBarack Obama'sNational Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform withAlan K. Simpson.[2] The commission deadlocked, and the co-chairs' report on a policy for budget deficit reduction was not adopted by the Obama administration.[9] Surprised by the rejection, Bowles later stated he believed that Obama decided to abandon the report and let [incoming House Budget Chairman]Paul Ryan go first, and then he would look like the sensible guy in the game, based on advice from his political advisers and over the objections of his economic team.[9]
Bowles has been a member of the board of directors ofGeneral Motors,Morgan Stanley,Norfolk Southern Corporation,[10] andNorth Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company and serves on the North Carolina Advisory Board ofDonorsChoose.
On September 7, 2011,Facebook, Inc. announced that it had named Bowles to its board.[11]
After North Carolina GovernorBev Perdue announced that she would not run for a second term in2012, Bowles was mentioned as a possible candidate, and polling put him almost even with likely Republican nomineePat McCrory. But on February 2, 2012, Bowles announced that he would not seek the governorship.[12]
Bowles is also a member of the board of directors of:[13]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Dayton Watkins Acting | Administrator of the Small Business Administration 1993–1994 | Succeeded by Cassandra Pulley Acting |
| Preceded by | White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations 1994–1996 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | White House Chief of Staff 1997–1998 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromNorth Carolina (Class 2) 2002 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromNorth Carolina (Class 3) 2004 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | President of the University of North Carolina system 2005–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| New office | Co-Chair of theNational Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform 2010 Served alongside:Alan Simpson | Position abolished |
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| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
