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Weld, William

Bill Weld was raised in Smithtown, New York. He graduated from Harvard College in 1966 with a B.A. in classics and a year later received his diploma in economics and political science from Oxford University. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1970. In 1974 he served as associate minority counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee during its Watergate impeachment inquiry. As governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997, Weld was credited with improving the business climate in Massachusetts by reducing taxes and state regulations on business. Prior to becoming governor, he served as Assistant U.S. Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., emphasizing white-collar criminal investigation and prosecution. He was the United States Attorney for Massachusetts during the Reagan administration, emphasizing public corruption prosecutions and affirmative civil litigation. He also practiced law for 13 years, concentrating in securities and antitrust litigation as a partner for two major Boston law firms.

Bill is an active member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and Washington, D.C., and served by appointment of the President on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. Bill also serves as an associate member of the InterAction Council, a working society of former heads of state from throughout the world that convenes annually to consider and report on issues of global concern.