William E Simon was a successful businessman and philanthropist. A high profile investor and ex-treasury secretary of the U.S., he served on both the government and private sectors during his lifetime. He started off his career by trading municipal bonds at Union Securities but soon was promoted to the rank of Vice President of Weeden & Co. He then held a high profile post at Salomon Brothers, before taking up government post of treasury secretary at the Nixon administration. He continued in the profile at the Ford and later Carter administration. In 1977, he gave up his post of treasury secretary to continue in the private sector. During his business career, Simon served on the boards of over thirty companies including Xerox, Citibank, Halliburton, Dart & Kraft, and United Technologies. He has also served on the boards of many of America's premier think tanks, including the Heritage Foundation and the Hoover Institution.
