Gary MacDougal

Early life

Gary MacDougal was born in Chicago Illinois, attended grade school and the first year of high school in Westfield, New Jersey, completing high school in Los Angeles, California and graduating with a BS in Engineering from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1958. He served in the Navy as the Engineering Officer on destroyers in the Atlantic fleet for three years before attending Harvard Business School from which he graduated with Distinction in 1963.

Career

MacDougal joined McKinsey & Company in 1963 and was elected a partner in 1968. While at McKinsey he had responsibility, together with another partner, for the firm’s merger/acquisition and finance practice. In 1969 he left McKinsey to become CEO of Clayton Mark and Company (name later changed to Mark Controls Corporation).

MacDougal was a director of United Parcel Service for 34 years where he was Chairman of the Finance Committee and Chairman of the Nominating and Governance committees and was also on the board of the following New York Stock Exchange listed corporations: Union Camp Corporation (forest products), AM International (printing equipment), CBI Industries (industrial construction and commercial gases), Sargent Welch Scientific (laboratory equipment), Maremont Corporation (automotive equipment) and The France Fund (mutual Fund).

Foundations and the arts

MacDougal served as a Trustee and as Chairman of the Russell Sage Foundation (New York), a major funder of social science research, with a primary focus on problems of poverty. He was for many years a Trustee of the Annie E. Casey Foundation with a mission to help move disadvantaged children and families from dependency to self-sufficiency, and is also a former Trustee of the W.T. Grant Foundation, which works in the area of child development and the problems of disadvantaged children.

The New York City Ballet selected MacDougal as General Director in 1990 where, in addition to general management, his activities included leading a long range planning process and establishing a marketing function.

Politics and government

MacDougal chaired the Illinois Governor’s Task Force for Human Services Reform from 1993 to 1997, which developed and implemented a major reorganization of the Illinois human services systems. This work has been described in columns by Pulitzer Prize winners David Broder and Clarence Page.

MacDougal was appointed by then Vice President George H. W. Bush as Senior Advisor to his successful 1988 Presidential Campaign, where he had responsibility in the areas of policy, management and finance. MacDougal was an exploratory candidate for the US Senate from Illinois in 1989, withdrawing at the request of President Bush, and was also a US Senate candidate in 1992 where, according to a book by NY Times journalists Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson, MacDougal’s candidacy was sacrificed by the White House in return for a crucial vote by his opponent, Illinois Senator Alan Dixon (D-IL), to approve Clarence Thomas for the US Supreme Court. MacDougal served as Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party during the 2002 gubernatorial campaign where he rebuilt party finances and earned a reputation for attacking “bipartisan sleaze” in Illinois.

MacDougal was appointed by President GHW Bush as a Public Delegate of the United States to the United Nations for the 44th General Assembly session. The U.S. Senate confirmed him on November 19, 1989. President Bush subsequently appointed MacDougal to the US Commission on Improving the Effectiveness of the United Nations. He also served on the US Secretary of Labor’s Commission on Workforce Quality and Labor Market Efficiency.

Writing and speaking

MacDougal is the author of: Make A Difference: A Spectacular Breakthrough in the Fight Against Poverty (St. Martin’s Press: 2000, paperback 2005). He has published numerous articles on poverty and other topics in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times and Harvard Business Review, among others. He has spoken on moving people from dependency to self-sufficiency and other topics at leading think tanks and universities.

Personal

MacDougal is married to former Joffrey ballerina, Nureyev partner and Broadway dancer Charlene Gehm. Charlene graduated with a BA from New York University and an MA in Medieval Studies from Columbia University. He has two sons, Gary Jr., Principal in The Taurlin Group and Michael, CEO of Fiberesin Industries.

He is a member of the Chicago Club, Harvard Club of New York City, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Author’s Guild and is a former Director of the Economic Club of Chicago.