Harold E. Ford, Jr.

Born: May 11, 1970, Memphis, Tennessee

Company: Merrill Lynch

Position: Vice Chairman and Senior Policy Advisor

Industry: Financial Services

Country: United Stated

Harold E. Ford, Jr., vice chairman and senior policy advisor. He is responsible for advising senior management on domestic policy issues, serves as a member of the firm's public policy and social responsibility management committee, and supports a variety of business development initiatives in the institutional and retail markets.

Prior to taking on his current role in March 2007, Mr. Ford served in the U.S House of Representatives for the Ninth District of Tennessee. Mr. Ford was elected to the House in 1996 at age 26 and served five terms. He sat on the House Budget Committee and the House Committee on Financial Services. In addition, Mr. Ford co-chaired the Congressional Savings and Ownership Caucus, a bipartisan coalition dedicated to advancing policies to build savings and assets for all Americans, and low-income Americans in particular, and the Community Solutions and Initiatives Caucus, a bipartisan group of lawmakers that seeks to help faith and community-based groups solve social challenges.

In January 2007, Mr. Ford was elected chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, the progressive policy and issues advocacy organization, succeeding Thomas Vilsack, the governor of Iowa. Mr. Ford is also a professor of public policy at Vanderbilt University.

He earned a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School and a bachelor's degree in American history from the University of Pennsylvania.