Xavier University | The HistoryMakers

The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr.

Bank executive and United States ambassador Dwight L. Bush, Sr. was born on February 4, 1957 in St. Louis, Missouri to Charlie and Jessie Bush. He was raised in East St. Louis, Illinois, and attended Clark Junior High School and East St. Louis High School. He graduated from Cornell University in 1979 with his B.A. degree in government and economics.

Upon graduation, Bush joined Chase Manhattan Bank as a trainee in the management development program, and went on to become the bank’s first African American managing director. His tenure at Chase included international corporate banking assignments in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, and corporate finance and project finance in New York and Washington, D.C. In 1994, he was named vice president of corporate development and chief credit officer of Sallie Mae, where he served until 1997. From 1998 to 2006, Bush worked as a principal at Stuart Mill Capital, LLC; vice president and chief financial officer at SatoTravel Holdings, Inc.; and vice chairman at Enhanced Capital Partners, LLC.

In 2002, Bush founded D.L. Bush & Associates, a financial advisory and private investment firm located in Washington, D.C., where he serves as managing partner and president. Bush then helped establish Urban Trust Bank in 2004, and went on to serve as president and CEO of Urban Trust Bank, Urban Trust Holdings and president of UTB Education Finance, LLC from 2006 until 2008. On August 1, 2013, Bush was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as the United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco; and, in March of 2014, the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment.

Bush was appointed a director of EntreMed Inc. in 2004, and was named vice chairman in 2010. He has also served on the boards of the GAVI Alliance, Cornell University, The Vaccine Fund, ICBC Broadcast Holdings Inc., The Georgetown Day School, and The National Symphony Orchestra. He served on the boards of directors of Urban Trust Bank Holdings, UTB Education Finance, LLC, U.S. Education Finance, LLC, and Urban Cableworks. In addition, Bush was a director of JER Investors Trust Inc., and a member of The White House Fellows Selection Committee.

Bush is married to Antoinette Cook Bush, executive vice president and global head of government affairs at News Corp. They have two children: Dwight Bush, Jr. and Jacqueline Bush.

Dwight Bush was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on March 22, 2014.

Accession Number

A2014.116

Sex

Male

Interview Date

3/22/2014

Last Name

Bush

Maker Category

CivicMakers

Marital Status

Married

Middle Name

Lamar

Occupation

Bank Executive

United States Ambassador

Organizations

Schools

Cornell University

East St. Louis High School

Clark Junior High School

Park Elementary School

First Name

Dwight

Birth City, State, Country

St. Louis

HM ID

BUS04

Favorite Season

Spring

State

Missouri

THM DA Link

http://marc.thehistorymakers.org/thmdigital/A2014.116.htm

Web Clip 1

https://thmdaprodmedia.blob.core.windows.net/media/story/video/657439

Favorite Vacation Destination

Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic

Favorite Quote

Pride Breeds Determination And Determination Breeds Pride.

Bio Photo

Speakers Bureau Region State

District of Columbia

Birth Date

2/4/1957

Birth Place Term

St. Louis

Speakers Bureau Region City

Washington

Country

United States

Favorite Food

Fried Chicken

Short Description

Bank executive and united states ambassador The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. (1957 - ) was the first African American managing director at Chase Manhattan Bank. He served as vice president of corporate development at Sallie Mae, president and CEO of the Urban Trust Bank, and president of D.L. Bush & Associates. He was named U.S. Ambassador to Morocco in 2014.

Employment

Department of State

D. L. Bush & Associates

Urban Trust Bank

Stuart Mill Capital

Sato Travel

SLM Corp

Chase Manhattan Bank

Favorite Color

Red

Web Clip 2

https://thmdaprodmedia.blob.core.windows.net/media/story/video/657449

Timing Pairs

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DAStories

Tape: 1 Story: 1 - Slating of The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr.'s interview

Tape: 1 Story: 2 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. lists his favorites

Tape: 1 Story: 3 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes his mother's family background and personality

Tape: 1 Story: 4 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes his father's career and personality

Tape: 1 Story: 5 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. recalls how his parents met

Tape: 1 Story: 6 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. lists his siblings

Tape: 1 Story: 7 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes his earliest childhood memory

Tape: 1 Story: 8 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. remembers his early home life

Tape: 1 Story: 9 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes the prominent figures from East St. Louis, Illinois

Tape: 1 Story: 10 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. remembers his neighborhood in East St. Louis, Illinois

Tape: 1 Story: 11 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes the sights, sounds and smells of his childhood

Tape: 1 Story: 12 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. talks about his parents' views on parenting

Tape: 2 Story: 1 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes his parents' religious faith

Tape: 2 Story: 2 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. talks about his parents' work ethic

Tape: 2 Story: 3 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes his early personality

Tape: 2 Story: 4 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes his early schooling

Tape: 2 Story: 5 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes his early mentors and career aspirations

Tape: 2 Story: 6 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. recalls his decision to attend Cornell University in Ithaca, New York

Tape: 2 Story: 7 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. talks about his extracurricular activities

Tape: 2 Story: 8 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. remembers his mentors

Tape: 2 Story: 9 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. talks about the impact of the Vietnam War

Tape: 2 Story: 10 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. remembers his early work experiences

Tape: 2 Story: 11 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes the diverse student body at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York

Tape: 3 Story: 1 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes his initial challenges at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York

Tape: 3 Story: 2 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. recalls his early career aspirations

Tape: 3 Story: 3 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes his work experiences during college

Tape: 3 Story: 4 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. remembers his notable classmates at Cornell University

Tape: 3 Story: 5 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. recalls entering the training program at Chase Manhattan Bank

Tape: 3 Story: 6 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes the training program at Chase Manhattan Bank, pt. 1

Tape: 3 Story: 7 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. remembers his college graduation

Tape: 3 Story: 8 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes the training program at Chase Manhattan Bank, pt. 2

Tape: 3 Story: 9 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. talks about his first full time position at Chase Manhattan Bank

Tape: 3 Story: 10 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. recalls working in Puerto Rico for Chase Manhattan Bank

Tape: 3 Story: 11 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. recalls his colleagues in the banking industry

Tape: 4 Story: 1 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. reflects upon his initial success at Chase Manhattan Bank

Tape: 4 Story: 2 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. remembers meeting his wife

Tape: 4 Story: 3 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. shares a story from his honeymoon

Tape: 4 Story: 4 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. recalls commuting between New York City and Washington, D.C.

Tape: 4 Story: 5 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. recalls resigning from Chase Manhattan Bank

Tape: 4 Story: 6 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. talks about joining the SLM Corporation

Tape: 4 Story: 7 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. recalls founding Stuart Mill Capital, Inc.

Tape: 4 Story: 8 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. talks about the acquisition of Sato Travel

Tape: 5 Story: 1 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. talks about his work in corporate restructuring

Tape: 5 Story: 2 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. recalls his efforts to acquire a bank

Tape: 5 Story: 3 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. remembers acquiring Urban Trust Bank

Tape: 5 Story: 4 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. talks about the urban banking market

Tape: 5 Story: 5 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. reflects upon the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977

Tape: 5 Story: 6 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. recalls joining the board of Cornell University

Tape: 5 Story: 7 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. talks about the higher education system in the United States

Tape: 5 Story: 8 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes his relationship with his stepfather-in-law, Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.

Tape: 6 Story: 1 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. recalls joining the board of Xavier University of Louisiana

Tape: 6 Story: 2 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes Norman Francis

Tape: 6 Story: 3 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. talks about his appointment as ambassador to Morocco, pt. 1

Tape: 6 Story: 4 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. talks about his appointment as ambassador to Morocco, pt. 2

Tape: 6 Story: 5 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes his children

Tape: 6 Story: 6 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. talks about his extended family

Tape: 6 Story: 7 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. describes his hopes and concerns for the African American community

Tape: 6 Story: 8 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. reflects upon his generation's legacy

Tape: 6 Story: 9 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. reflects upon his marriage to Antoinette Cook Bush

Tape: 6 Story: 10 - The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. reflects upon his legacy

DASession

1$1

DATape

5$6

DAStory

2$4

DATitle

The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. recalls his efforts to acquire a bank

The Honorable Dwight Bush, Sr. talks about his appointment as ambassador to Morocco, pt. 2

Transcript

So you have these two--I was just trying to remember okay--these two things back to back that have tremendous up- upside, well realized upside potential, I mean tremendous, tenfold (laughter) or more. And so, after that what do you, what do you do after that because that's, that's--$$So, after Sato [Sato Travel; CWTSato Travel], I always have been interested in owning my own bank, because I felt that urban consumers still weren't fully participating in the banking system and therefore they weren't creating the sort of wealth that other families were creating, and so at that point, I have the capacity to start to think about acquiring a bank and so I left Stuart Mill Capital [Stuart Mill Capital, Inc., Falls Church, Virginia] in two thousand- the latter in 2003, yeah, and I spent my time on my advisory work [D.L. Bush & Associates, LLC, Washington, D.C.] and also trying to identify a bank to purchase and Independence Federal in Washington, D.C. was in financial trouble and I was interested in buying Independence Federal, and as I was looking at it myself, it's announced that Bob Johnson [Robert L. Johnson] is interested in buying Independence Federal Savings and Loan [Independence Federal Savings and Association; Independence Federal Savings Bank, Washington, D.C.], and I had known Bob for probably about eight years at that point, both through my wife, Toni's [Antoinette Cook Bush] engagement as his lawyer on certain transactions, and socially around Washington, D.C., and so I called Bob and I said, "Bob, we should talk because I'm interested in buying Independence." And he said, "That's great. We should talk, because I don't know what we would do with it, but I do think that this bank has historically served the needs of African Americans in this community and if we can get a hold of it, we can use that as a platform to support this community more broadly," and so we got together and we talked about buying Independence, and for a variety of reasons, we could not find a way to acquire it, but in the process of considering Independence, we concluded that there was a space for a nationwide African American controlled financial institution that would be looking to meet the core financial service needs of urban based consumers, whether in Washington, D.C., or Philadelphia [Pennsylvania] or Detroit [Michigan] or L.A. [Los Angeles, California], because people need access to credit, people need the process of having access to credit which is having things like bank accounts, et cetera. We know that homeowners, if you own a home, your net worth in America is about three hundred thousand dollars. If you don't, your net worth is about thirty-five thousand dollars in America and a disproportionate part of our population was not making that wealth creation effort.$So the appointment is until the president [HistoryMaker President Barack Obama] serves, right? At the end of the term. How long is the appointment?$$So, your, your appointment is--two things happen. You serve at the pleasure of the president and typically what you would do is you will serve until the end of the term. If the party in power continues in power, you remain in your position until either you choose to leave or the new administration chooses to replace you. If there's a change in the party of the president, you submit your resignation on Inauguration Day, and they determine whether they want to keep you around or not, and, again there are situations in which you are asked to continue until they find a replacement, or you could, you stay longer. But, what I am prepared to do is to be in this position for the next three and a half years and do all I can to make sure that our relationship with the Moroccans is to our mutual benefit and that the mission and the vision and the values of our president are manifested in my behaviors every day.$$It's a country with a lot of, you know, very rich history, topography--$$Yeah.$$--there is a lot going on in neighboring countries.$$Yes, yeah. So, many people ask me the question, "Well did you choose Morocco?" And, the answer is unequivocally yes. It was my first choice and it was my first choice for several reasons. Number one, I wanted to be in a place where I could have an impact and where there are important things, significant things going on. So, Morocco has been, Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States in 1777. Morocco is the furthest point west that the Roman Empire went. When you think of history and the trade routes, there were two trade routes from Africa to Europe, either through Carthage, Tunisia, or through Morocco. Morocco has a progressive Islamic government. When the Jews left Spain to come to Morocco, it was a large, one of the largest groups of Jewish people any place. In fact, Morocco represents the third largest point of movement of Jewish people to Israel after Poland and Russia. Morocco was the third. It has a history of inclusiveness unlike, and progressiveness, that you don't see in many neighboring countries. It is a beautiful country with a beautiful history with beautiful people and I'm looking forward to serving them.$$That's wonderful. Oh, congratulations on that (simultaneous).$$(Simultaneous) Um-hm.

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