WILLIAM E. (BILL) LOWRY, JR.

William E. (Bill) Lowry, Jr. serves as Special Assistant to the President of The Chicago Community Trust.  Primarily, he is charged with enhancing the programs and image of the Trust and extending the reach and effectiveness of the Office of the President.

Prior to the Trust, Bill was the Senior Advisor to the President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.  In that position, he served as the main Foundation representative to City of Chicago officials and to nonprofits in Chicago.  He also served in an advisory role on human resources-related matters.

Bill joined MacArthur in 1994 as Vice President of Human Resources and Administration, a position he held until October 2005.  However, his association with the Foundation began in 1993 as a human resources consultant.  At that time he was also Chief Operating Officer at James H. Lowry & Associates, a management consulting firm.  Before working with Lowry & Associates, Bill was with Inland Steel Industries.  He started with Inland in 1962 as a member of the company’s training group and rose through the ranks to become Corporate Director of Personnel and Recruitment.  He retired from Inland in 1993.

In 1967 Bill began a television career when he hosted the Emmy and Peabody award-winning television show “Opportunity Line,” a weekly 30-minute program on employment issues.  The show’s title changed to “Objective:  Jobs” in 1982.  It aired until 1991.  Both programs appeared on Chicago’s CBS affiliate, WBBM-TV and serviced over one million people regarding job placement and training.

At present, Bill serves on the boards of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and the Children’s Home and Aid Society of Illinois. In addition, he is a trustee of Kenyon College and is a member of the Chinese American Service League’s Advisory Council.

Through the years Bill has been a member of several boards in Chicago including the Donor’s Forum of Chicago, United Way/Crusade of Mercy, “Illinois Issues,” the Chicagoland Project with Industry, Boys and Girls Club of Chicago, United Charities of Chicago and Lake Forest College.

Bill’s ties with Chicago have been strong throughout the years where he has served as the President of the Private Industry Council and the Chicago Workforce Board.  In 1996, he was appointed Chair of the City/County Task Force on Welfare Reform by Mayor Richard M. Daley.  He served in that capacity until 2000.

Bill is a native Chicagoan and earned his AB degree from Kenyon College and his master’s degree from Loyola University of Chicago.