Bowles began his business career at Morgan Stanley & Co. in New York as an associate in the corporate finance group. In that position, he saw the unfilled opportunity to provide corporate finance expertise to America’s middle-market companies. He soon returned home to North Carolina, where he founded and served as chairman and CEO of the Charlotte-based investment banking firm that became Bowles Hollowell Connor & Co. Bowles also was a founder of Kitty Hawk Capital, a venture capital company, and Carousel Capital, a middle-market private equity company.
In 1993, Bowles was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as director of the Small Business Administration, and later was tapped to serve as deputy White House chief of staff (1994-95) and White House chief of staff (1996-98). As chief of staff, he helped negotiate the first balanced budget in a generation. As a member of the National Economic Council and National Security Council, he helped guide domestic and foreign policy. In prior service as deputy White House chief of staff, Bowles helped direct the government’s response to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. After he left the White House, he also served from 1999 to 2001 as a general partner of Forstmann Little, a New York-based private equity firm. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 2002 and 2004, and currently serves on the boards of Morgan Stanley and Cousins Properties.
Bowles has shown a life-long commitment to public service in North Carolina and beyond. He helped found Dogwood Equity, chaired the Rural Prosperity Task Force, and served as a trustee of the Golden LEAF Foundation—three entities designed to bring economic development to rural North Carolina. Bowles also has served as vice chair of Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte and as a trustee of the Duke Endowment. Family illness inspired Bowles to help lead efforts to create an ALS (Lou Gehrigs Disease) Center in Charlotte and to serve as the international president of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. In 2005, he was appointed United Nations deputy special envoy to 13 tsunami-affected countries in Southeast Asia.
Bowles has been married since 1971 to Crandall Close Bowles, retired chief executive officer of Springs Industries, one of the nation’s largest textile companies. They have three adult children: Sam, Annie, and Bill.
President, The University of North Carolina, 910 Raleigh Road, P.O. Box 2688, Chapel Hill, NC 27515, since 2006; Senior Advisor, Carousel Capital, a private investment firm, since 2002; Chairman, Erskine Bowles & Co., LLC (2003-2005); Deputy Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, United Nations (2005). COMMITTEES — Directors and Corporate Governance, Public Policy. DIRECTORSHIPS — Cousins Properties Incorporated, Morgan Stanley, North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. AFFILIATIONS — Member of the Board of Chancellors of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International. « less
Government Positions
National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
Bipartisan deficit...
White House Office
Includes multiple levels of presidential advisory boards and...
Business Positions
General Motors Company
automobile manufacturer
Carousel Capital
A private investment firm that focuses on investing in companies...
Morgan Stanley
investment bank
Merck & Co. Inc.
Pharmaceutical Manufacturer
Facebook
Online directory and social network
Wachovia Corporation
Financial services / banking
Other Positions & Memberships
1-10 of 11 :: see all
The Business Council
Membership association of leading CEOs
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
austerity think tank housed at New...
Wall Street Journal CEO Council
120 of the world’s most powerful chief...
Fix the Debt
organization advocating fiscal austerity
Education
Family
Crandall Close Bowles
Chairman of Springs Industries; wife of Erskine Bowles
Donors
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Stephen E Cummings
former SEVP at Wachovia
Crandall Close Bowles
Chairman of Springs Industries; wife of Erskine Bowles
Glenn H Hutchins
managing director of Silver Lake Partners
John Sall
Co-founder, SAS Institute
Joshua Bekenstein
Managing director at Bain Capital
Carl Ferenbach III
Managing director, Berkshire Partners
Paul Fulton
former CEO of Bassett Furniture; former president of Sara Lee
William B Harrison Jr
Retired chairman of JPMorgan Chase; former CEO of JPMorgan
John W. Jordan, II
Chicago investment banker
Donation/Grant Recipients
1-10 of 37 :: see all
Hillary Clinton
Former Secretary of State
Political Fundraising Committees



