Today the George W. Bush Foundation welcomed Margaret Spellings on her first day as president. Spellings oversees all aspects of Bush...
Today the George W. Bush Foundation welcomed Margaret Spellings on her first day as president.
Spellings oversees all aspects of Bush Foundation activities, including leadership of the George W. Bush Institute, management of George W. Bush Presidential Center business operations, and collaboration with the National Archives and Records Administration, which operates the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. The appointment of Spellings, one of the nation’s premier thought leaders in public policy, marks a new stage of development for the Bush Center’s policy arm, the Bush Institute.
Spellings, the former U.S. Secretary of Education and White House Domestic Policy Advisor during the George W. Bush Administration, was previously president and CEO of Margaret Spellings and Company, a Washington, D.C. consulting firm that provides strategic guidance to philanthropic and private sector organizations. She also served as president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
“Laura and I are thrilled that Margaret Spellings has come home to Texas to join us at the Bush Center,” said President George W. Bush. “Margaret is a smart, capable, effective leader who gets results. Her policy and management experience will inform and enhance our work at the Bush Institute. We look forward to working with her to advance freedom and expand opportunities for individuals at home and across the globe.”
“My goal is to make the Bush Center the ‘go to’ source in our areas of engagement and continue to develop reasoned, serious and compelling programming,” said Spellings. “I look forward to contributing on important issues that develop sound thinking around the core values of freedom.”
As head of Margaret Spellings and Company, Spellings worked with leading philanthropic organizations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Goldman Sachs Foundation, and provided strategic guidance for organizations such as the Boston Consulting Group. As president of the Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the U.S. Chamber’s non-profit affiliate, Spellings worked with the nation’s top industry leaders and corporate executives to advance America’s global competitiveness. Her experience leading the Chamber’s foundation and directing its work as a think tank on emerging issues in business will serve her well in this new role.
From 2005 to 2009, Spellings served as the U.S. Secretary of Education where she oversaw an agency with a nearly $70 billion budget and more than 10,000 employees and contractors. As a member of the President’s Cabinet, she led the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), a historic national initiative to provide enhanced accountability for the education of 50 million U.S. public school students. As the Domestic Policy Advisor to the President (2001-2005), Spellings helped create NCLB and crafted policies on education, immigration, health care, labor, transportation, justice, housing, and other elements of the President's domestic agenda. Prior to her service in the White House, she was senior advisor to then-Governor George W. Bush of Texas, led governmental and external relations for the Texas Association of School Boards, and has served in key positions at Austin Community College and with the Texas Legislature. She graduated from the University of Houston with a bachelor's degree in political science.
About the George W. Bush Presidential Center:
The George W. Bush Presidential Center is home to the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, which is operated by the National Archives and Records Administration, and the George W. Bush Institute. The Bush Institute, founded by President and Mrs. Bush in 2009, is a public policy center with the mission of advancing freedom by expanding opportunities for individuals at home and abroad. The work of the Bush Institute is inspired by the principles that guided the Bushes in public life. The Bush Center complex is located on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and also includes a 15-acre park, a full-service restaurant, Café 43, and a museum store. To learn more about the Bush Center, please visit www.bushcenter.org, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
