Philip Lader

Born in New York City, Lader graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science as a Phi Beta Kappa member from Duke University in 1966, received the Master of Arts in History from the University of Michigan in 1967, completed graduate studies in law and English constitutional history at Oxford University from 1967 to 1968, and received his JD as a Leopold Schepp Scholar from Harvard Law School in 1972.[1][2]

During his studies at Harvard Law School, Lader was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Newton College of the Sacred Heart (subsequently merged with Boston College) and a teaching assistant to Harvard Law Professor Paul Freund and Harvard Political Philosophy Professor Louis Hartz. After graduation, he was a law clerk to the late Judge Paul Roney, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit (formerly Fifth Circuit) and was associated with the New York law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell. He served in the U.S. Army (JAG) Reserves from 1969 to 1975.

Lader was president of Sea Pines Company, a developer/operator of large-scale recreation communities including Hilton Head Island and Kiawah Island. Upon sale of that company in 1983, he was president of Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, which was awarded the National Gold Medal for "general improvement in programs" by the Council for Advancement & Support of Education during his tenure, and served until becoming a candidate in the 1986 gubernatorial election in South Carolina, finishing second to then-Lieutenant Governor Michael R. Daniel and foregoing the run-off in support of Daniel, who narrowly lost to Republican Carroll A. Campbell Jr. in the general election.

From 1986 to 1989, Lader was Executive Vice President of Sir James Goldsmith's U.S. holdings – which included America's then-largest private landholdings, sixth-largest forest products company, largest computer supplies supplier, and oil and gas interests. After the assets' restructuring and sale, he was President and Vice-Chancellor of Bond University, Australia's first private university.

Under President Bill Clinton, Lader was confirmed three times by the U.S. Senate. He served as Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget until becoming White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President in December 1993, when The New York Times described him as "a longtime friend" of Clinton's. He was a member of President Clinton's Cabinet while serving as Administrator of the Small Business Administration from 1994 to 1997. During Clinton's second term, he was United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James's.

In 2001, Lader returned to the private sector, working on the corporate boards of WPP and Morgan Stanley. From 2001 to 2006, he also was the John West Professor of International Studies at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina

He has served as president of Business Executives for National Security, chairman of the Royal Academy of Arts American Trust, a member of Harvard Law School's Visiting Committee, Columbia University's International Advisory Board, Yale Divinity School's Advisory Board, and Brown University's Watson Institute of International Studies Advisory Board, and a member of the founding Council of the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford University. In South Carolina, he was a trustee of Middleton Place Foundation (America's oldest landscaped gardens) and Liberty Fellows and was chairman of the South Carolina Small & Minority Business Council, a trustee of South Carolina State Colleges, and a director of the South Carolina Jobs-Economic Development Authority, First Carolina Bank, and the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce.

He is married to Linda LeSourd Lader, a graduate of Yale Divinity School, where she was a Fellow at its Center for Faith & Culture, and fifth-generation graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University. She was Associate Pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. and is now Associate Pastor of Gardens Presbyterian Church in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Prior to ordination, she was engaged in a Washington, D.C., lay ministry and assisted President Bill Clinton in his outreach to the nation's communities of faith.

Philip and Linda Lader have two daughters. Mary-Catherine, who holds JD/MBA degrees from Harvard University and was an investment analyst with Goldman Sachs' Special Situations Group, is a Managing Director of BlackRock and Chief Operating Officer of its Digital Advisory business. Whitaker Lader, who holds the MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, served as Executive Director of the Ivy Film Festival, Sundance Institute's Manager of Creative Initiatives, and Head of Production & Development at Sea Change Media. Her most recent commercial film producer-credit is Light of My Life, starring Casey Affleck and Elizabeth Moss.

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