Alan K. Simpson

Watch excerpts from Alan Simpson's acceptance remarks.

Following in the footsteps of his father, Milward – who served in the Wyoming legislature and later became the state’s governor and U.S. senator -- Alan K. Simpson was elected in 1964 to the Wyoming House of Representatives, where he served for 13 years. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1978. In the Senate, Simpson was active on issues regarding veterans, aging, the environment, and the nation’s immigration laws. He was re-elected in 1984 and was elected by his Republican peers as the party whip. He served as assistant leader for 10 years, four years into his third Senate term.

Simpson retired at the end of his third term, in 1997, and for four academic years taught as a visiting lecturer at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and for two years he served as the Director of the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School.

In late 2000, he and his wife, Ann, returned to their Cody, Wyoming home. Al became, and remains, a partner in the law firm Simpson, Kepler and Edwards, the Cody division of the Denver firm of Burg Simpson Eldredge, Hersh and Jardine. He also taught and remains active in various capacities at his beloved alma mater, the University of Wyoming.

In 2006, Simpson was named as one of ten members of the Iraq Study Group, and in early 2010 President Barack Obama asked him to co-chair with Erskine Bowles the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Simpson saw the Commission’s work as a valuable opportunity to educate the public.

Erskine Bowles

Watch Erskine Bowles' acceptance remarks.

Erskine Bowles retired as president of the 17-campus University of North Carolina on December 31, 2010, after now holds the title of President Emeritus. Born and raised in Greensboro, N.C., he is a graduate of the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.

Bowles began his business career at Morgan Stanley & Co. in New York as an associate in the corporate finance group. He soon returned home to North Carolina, where he founded three financial services firms. President Bill Clinton appointed Bowles in 1993 to serve as director of the Small Business Administration and, a year later he was appointed deputy chief of staff in the White House.

Bowles moved up to White House chief of staff in 1996 and helped negotiate the first balanced budget in a generation. Bowles ran for the U.S. Senate from North Carolina in 2002 and 2004, and served as president of the University of North Carolina system from 2005 through 2010. As UNC president, he was credited with strengthening the fiscal integrity of the University and making it more responsive to the changing needs of North Carolina.

Bowles has shown a life-long commitment to public service in North Carolina and beyond. He has worked with community organizations in North Carolina, he has led efforts to create an ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) Center in Charlotte, and is a leader in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. In 2005, he was appointed United Nations deputy special envoy to 13 tsunami-affected countries in Southeast Asia.

In 2010, he was named by President Barack Obama to co-chair the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. He has been married since 1971 to Crandall Close Bowles. They have three adult children: Sam, Annie, and Bill.