N e ws and V iews From the U.S. Cha m b e r o f C o m m e rc e
2010
Thomas D. Bell Jr.
Elected U.S. Chamber Chairman
Focus Will Be on the Free Enterprise Campaign
and Voter Education
New U.S. Chamber Chairman Tom Bell boasts a
professional background nearly as diverse as the Chamber’s
membership, with successful stints in politics, the nonprofit
world, advertising and marketing, manufacturing, commercial
real estate, and, currently, the security business. Bell is chairman
of SecurAmerica, an Atlanta-based national commercial
security company, and vice chairman of Goddard Investment
Group, a real estate investment firm.
“Tom is a true Renaissance man,” says Pete Correll,
chairman of Atlanta Equity and former chairman of Georgia
Pacific, on whose board Bell served. “He has had four or five
distinct, successful careers. He’s extremely driven; once he
commits to something, he throws himself into it.”
That’s good news for the Chamber, which elected Bell, a
native of Memphis, to serve as chairman for a term ending in
June 2011. Bell says that his overriding priority is to “provide
a robust defense of the free enterprise system and help elect
a Congress committed to preserving and enhancing that
system.” As Chamber vice chairman, Bell was instrumental
in planning and launching the Chamber’s Campaign for Free
Enterprise last fall.
“We need to do a better job educating the public, especially
young people, about the power of free enterprise to create jobs
and generate wealth,” Bell says. “We must protect economic
freedom, in its most basic sense, by minimizing interference
from government and partisan politics.”
Politics and the ways of Washington are no strangers
to Bell. While a student at the University of Tennessee, he
worked for Sen. Howard Baker (R-TN) and helped elect Sen.
Bill Brock (R-TN), for whom he served as chief of staff. Bell
went on to work for Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign,
Lamar Alexander’s successful Tennessee gubernatorial bid,
Dan Quayle’s first run for the Senate, and Ronald Reagan’s
challenge of President Gerald Ford for the presidential
nomination in 1976. “In politics, you learn how to motivate
and persuade people and how to operate on tight deadlines
and budgets,” says Bell.
During the 1970s, Bell landed for a short time at the
U.S. Chamber, helping build its grassroots arm, then called
Citizen’s Choice. One of his co-workers was current Chamber
President and CEO Tom Donohue.
“Tom is a dynamic CEO who understands as well
as anyone the intersection of policy, politics, and
communications, which is increasingly valuable in today’s
fast-moving world,” Donohue says.
In the 1980s, Bell led President Reagan’s bipartisan
Committee on the Next Agenda, which was tasked with
exploring major issues confronting the president and the
nation during his second term.
From there, Bell’s career trajectory veered into the business
world. He was executive vice president of Ball Corp. in
Muncie, Indiana, for two years, then returned to Washington
to work for marketing giant Young & Rubicam Inc., eventually
becoming CEO of the public affairs unit, Burson-Marsteller.
LEADERSHIP
Thomas D. Bell Jr. Elected U.S. Chamber Chairman, continued
He left for Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. but was lured back to
Young & Rubicam by Peter Georgescu, whom he succeeded as
CEO of the international firm.
“Tom is unique among CEOs because he truly
understands the public sector and policymaking as well as
private business,” says Sam Williams, president and CEO of
the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, of which Bell was
chairman in 2005. “He can effectively communicate with the
White House and Congress as well as with fellow CEOs.”
Bell left Young & Rubicam when it was bought out by a
London-based company but stayed active on a number of
boards, including Cousins Properties, the largest developer
in the Southeast. Company founder and CEO Tom Cousins
persuaded Bell to become CEO.
“To take a company so closely associated with one
individual and lead it into its next phase is daunting, but Tom
succeeded,” says Matt Gove, who worked for Bell at Cousins
Properties. “The reason he’s successful is because he has a knack
for creating great relationships, reading the landscape and
setting a strategic direction, and understanding the long-term,
not just short-term, benefits of a decision.”
Says Georgescu, chairman emeritus of Young & Rubicam,
“Tom truly understands business in general. His ability to
grasp and understand various industries and constituencies
dovetails beautifully with his new role at the U.S. Chamber.”
Bell’s strong people skills contribute to his success.
Georgescu says, “Tom is very user friendly and approachable.
He’s humble, a good listener, a brilliant communicator, and
extremely smart, though he tries to hide it with his easygoing
manner.”
Bell retired after eight years as CEO of Cousins Properties,
and in January 2010 became an investor
and chairman of SecurAmerica, a national commercial security
firm. Over the next year, Bell will have two security jobs—
protecting commercial properties and American free enterprise.
“The Chamber is the largest, deepest, and most unique
business organization in the country. It’s the last line of defense of
free enterprise in our nation’s capital,” he says.
Reprinted by permission, Free Enterprise, June 2010. Copyright 2010, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
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as state and local chambers and industry associations.