Meet Harry
Harry Wilson is one of a new generation of leaders ready to tackle the pervasive and fundamental problems facing New York State government. His personal, professional, and public service experience makes him superbly qualified to serve as New York’s next State Comptroller.
Foundations for Success in Fulton County
Harry was born on October 25, 1971 in upstate Johnstown, New York. The son and grandson of Greek immigrants, he learned early on the value of hard work from his father, a bartender, and his mother, a homemaker and sewing-machine operator.
Harry worked his way through high school at his uncle’s restaurant and served as class president every year. He graduated first in his class and was named a Presidential Scholar by President George H.W. Bush – one of only 141 in the country.
Harry was the first person in his immediate family to go to college. Through a mix of scholarships, financial aid, student jobs and summer jobs – from cleaning the dorms to driving a shuttle van for students with disabilities— Harry attended and graduated from Harvard University and, later, Harvard Business School, where he earned an MBA.
Real World Experience
With the values instilled by his family and a first-class education from Harvard, Harry set off to build his career. His personal interest in the markets and his natural negotiating skills led him to the financial sector.
Harry played a wide variety of roles at four highly distinguished financial firms: Goldman Sachs, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, The Blackstone Group, and Silver Point Capital. At these firms, Harry employed a broad set of skills essential to the Comptroller’s role as sole trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund: building and developing a world-class investment team; making asset allocation decisions; assessing institutional investors and fund managers; and negotiating complex transactions.
Furthermore, Harry spent a significant portion of his career working with, investing in or acquiring and restructuring distressed companies. He used his analytical and leadership skills to determine how to fix company problems, particularly rooting out waste and inefficiencies, and worked with management to do just that. This skill set fits well with the Comptroller’s power to audit government spending – with Harry’s background and experience, he will be able to take a far more aggressive and creative approach to reining in runaway spending and devising creative ways to improve existing programs.
A Principled Approach to a Public Crisis
Last year, Harry agreed to serve on the President’s Auto Task Force – the group responsible for the overhaul of General Motors and Chrysler. As a fiscal conservative who believes in free markets, Harry wanted a say in how the auto bailout plan was administered. If both President Bush and President Obama were going to move forward with it, he wanted to make sure it was done right, and only once. Harry was the only Republican to join the leadership team of the Task Force.
Harry staunchly opposed the Chrysler bailout and made the case repeatedly to his colleagues. He thought the company had a low probability of turning the corner, so the bailout was not an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars. He is proud, however, of his work to fundamentally restructure General Motors – its board, its management, its operations and its labor arrangements. With the revised operating and labor cost structure and capital structure created through the restructuring, Harry believes General Motors can again become a profitable automaker.
A Principled, Professional Leader for New York
Harry and his wife of 12 years, Eva, live in Westchester County with their four daughters. Between soccer games and swim meets, Harry is active in charitable and political organizations. He serves on the board of Youth INC, helping troubled youth in NYC, and recently aided in the transition for Rob Astorino to Westchester County Executive.
On January 22, 2010 Harry Wilson filed a committee in preparation for a run for New York State Comptroller.