Former Treasury Secretary John W. Snow Named Newman Visiting Fellow at the Miller Center of Public Affairs

Aug. 15, 2007 -- The Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia has named former Treasury Secretary John W. Snow as its Newman Visiting Fellow. Snow begins his one-year appointment in August 2007, and will work with the Governing America in a Global Era program (GAGE) to work and advise on matters related to international and fiscal aspects of governance.

Snow is chairman of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., one of the world’s leading private investment firms with approximately $25 billion under management in funds and accounts. Cerberus specializes in providing financial resources and operational expertise to help transform undervalued companies into industry leaders for long-term success and value creation. Cerberus recently announced plans to purchase the Chrysler Group in a $7.4 billion transaction and take the company private — the first time a private equity company will run a major U.S. automaker. Since joining Cerberus in 2006, Snow has talked publicly about how private investment is increasingly important in the global economy.

During Snow’s tenure from 2003 to 2006 as the 73rd Secretary of the Treasury, the United States experienced some of the best economic performance on record; with growth at nearly 4 percent, more than six million new jobs created and with record federal revenues resulting in a markedly lower budget deficit. He forged international consensus on such issues as the importance of global growth, currency policy, and debt relief for the world’s poorest countries.

“John Snow’s experience in government, business and foreign policy makes him an outstanding resource for the students and scholars of the Miller Center and the University of Virginia,” said Miller Center Director Gerald L. Baliles. “We are pleased that he has agreed to bring his extensive and practical knowledge here to interact with students, scholars and the Center community.”

The Newman Visiting Fellowship brings Snow back to the University of Virginia, where he studied under two Nobel Prize winners and earned his Ph.D. in economics in 1965. He taught economics at U.Va. and the University of Maryland, and taught on the law faculty at George Washington University, where he earned a J.D. in 1967. Snow holds a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and did undergraduate work at Kenyon College and the University of Toledo, where he received a B.A. in 1962. He was a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in 1977 and a distinguished fellow at the Yale School of Management from 1978 until 1980.

“I’m deeply honored by this opportunity to strengthen and renew my affiliation with Mr. Jefferson’s University,” said Snow. “This appointment at the Miller Center is a natural extension of my long devotion to good public discourse on the defining issues that matter to all Americans and the wider global community.”

Before he became Treasury Secretary, Snow was chairman and chief executive officer of CSX Corporation. He was chairman of the Business Roundtable, made up of 250 CEOs of the nation's largest companies, from 1994 to 1996, supporting passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement and deficit reduction.  He held several high-ranking positions in the Department of Transportation during the Ford administration, leading the efforts to deregulate the transportation industry. In private life, he has served on various corporate and nonprofit boards including Johnson & Johnson, USX, Verizon, Textron, the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, the American Enterprise Institute and Johns Hopkins University.

ABOUT THE MILLER CENTER

Founded in 1975, the Miller Center of Public Affairs is a leading nonpartisan public policy institution that aims to fulfill Jefferson’s public service mission by serving as a national meeting place for engaged citizens, scholars, students, media representatives and government officials to research, reflect, and report on issues of national importance to the governance of the United States, with special attention to the central role and history of the presidency. Visit the center online at http://www.millercenter.org

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