Heather Higgins
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Heather Richardson Higgins (b. 21 September 1959) is an American businesswoman, political commentator, and non-profit sector executive who lives in New York City.
Described as a political "diva" by some sources,[1] Higgins has been associated with the full gamut of political and policy organizations. These range from non-profit, non-partisan organizations like the Council on Foreign Relations and her family's Randolph Foundation to media organizations with more pronounced political affinities, such as the National Empowerment Television network and Irving Kristol's The Public Interest.
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[edit] Personal background
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised in Manhattan, Higgins began her undergraduate studies in 1977 at Wellesley College. She graduated cum laude from Wellesley in 1981, earning a B.A. She then moved back to New York City and enrolled in the M.B.A. finance program at New York University's graduate school of business. After leaving NYU for several years to work as a research analyst and investment manager at a small firm, she resumed her studies there in 1986 and was awarded her graduate degree in 1987.[1] She currently lives in Manhattan with her husband James and their three children.
[edit] Journalism and business experience
In the 1980s, Higgins began writing editorial columns for the Wall Street Journal. During this time she also became an assistant editor at Irving Kristol's now-defunct quarterly, The Public Interest.[2]
Before her 1991 entry into the non-profit sector, she worked as a Wall Street portfolio manager for seven years, eventually attaining the position of vice president of U.S. Trust before it became a subsidiary of the Charles Schwab Corporation. On February 3, 2006, she was elected to be a Director and Trustee of sixteen of UBS's registered investment companies, which consisted of thirty-six mutual funds as of January 2007.[3][4]
[edit] Non-profit roles and policy work
Higgins has been heavily involved with non-profit organizations. She is chairman of the Independent Women's Forum,[5] co-founder of the Alliance For Charitable Reform,[6] and has been president and director of New York's Randolph Foundation since 1991.[4] She was also the executive director of the Council on Culture & Community.[7]
In addition to helming the above organizations, her non-profit experience includes her position on the executive committee of the board of overseers for the Hoover Institution[8][9] and her membership in the Council on Foreign Relations.[10] She is also a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development,[11] vice-chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based Philanthropy Roundtable, and a former member of the W.H. Brady Foundation's board of directors.[12]
Her editorial writing and her work in the non-profit sector have led to appearances on a variety of news/commentary programs, including Hardball, Politically Incorrect,[13] Real Time with Bill Maher,[14] Crossfire, Equal Time, and Good Morning America. With Newt Gingrich, she co-hosted The Progress Report on the now-defunct National Empowerment Television.[15][16] When asked about Higgins' television appearances, Bill Maher said, "Oh God, she could talk about anything."[1]
She was co-editor of The Quotable Paul Johnson (1994), a book of collected quotations from the popular historian.[17]
[edit] Higgins' views
Columnist Suzanne Fields, in an article discussing Higgins and IWF co-founder Lisa Schiffren, states that they "are mothers and relate to women who are not ideologically doctrinaire but who are instinctively conservative on war and taxes."[18]
In an interview with the Acton Institute, Higgins expressed her fundamental opposition to government social programs insofar as they compete with or replace private charities, stating,
- Government programs pose serious problems for community institutions when they directly compete with those organizations which attempt to provide charity while seeking to assist the individual beyond materialistic ends. Properly performed charity not only feeds you, but keeps your self-respect intact.[7]
In her review of Thomas DiLorenzo and James T. Bennett's book Unhealthy Charities: Hazardous to Your Health and Wealth, which examines the operation of health charities, Higgins argues that,
- The problem is not that there are bad people running these organizations; almost anyone sitting on the board of such an organization would do the same thing in this environment. The problem is having centralized government funding in the first place. Reallocate the dollars, disperse the authority, create competing funding sources, and all these problems and false incentives will be instantly mitigated.[2]
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George magazine published an article in its 1995 first issue, entitled "The Heather Report," in which her views were summarized as "essentially libertarian," and in agreement with the idea that "Centralized government will matter less and less.... We are in the midst of a 'great shift' from 'elitist to populist,' from a machine 'which is controlled and planned' to an organic system that, 'following this new paradigm, has faith in people, faith in their capacities, faith in their choices.'" Higgins was characterized as a link between the "wide-eyed" academic community and "flinty" political practitioners.[1]
In a 1995 Wall Street Journal column, Paul Gigot described her as an "idea broker," explaining that she prefers not to be associated with political parties. Gigot included a quotation from Higgins, in which she stated that "I am not really interested in a party.... If the Democrats had really been New Democrats, that would have been great. If these Republicans become Old Republicans, they'll lose me too."[19] William Galston, a senior domestic policy adviser in the Clinton administration, said, "I see Heather as an intellectual and policy entrepreneur with some real moral commitments.... I don't see her as a sharply partisan figure, certainly not in the way she deals with people."[1]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d e Platt, Adam. "The Heather Report." George. October/November 1995. pp. 174–177, 261–262.
- ^ a b Higgins, Heather R. "Unhealthy Charities: Hazardous to Your Health and Wealth. - book review" Public Interest. Spring 1995. [1]
- ^ "Annual Report, May 31 2006." Managed High Yield Plus Fund Inc. [2]
- ^ a b Managed High Yield Plus proxy statement. EDGAR. 26 July 2006. [3]
- ^ Toto, Christian. "Chao honored for valor." Washington Times. 27 May 2005. [4]
- ^ Schedule: "Congress and Charitable Reform." Alliance for Charitable Reform. 2005. [5]
- ^ a b "The Time has Come to Reevaluate Strategy for Change." Religion & Liberty. Acton Institute. January/February 1995. [6]
- ^ "Board of Overseers." Hoover Institution. [7]
- ^ "Twenty Appointed to Hoover Institution Board of Overseers." Business Wire. 3 December 2001. [8]
- ^ "2004 Annual Meeting Speaker Bios A—I." Philanthropy Roundtable. [9]
- ^ "Trustees 2006." Committee for Economic Development. [10]
- ^ "Profile: Philanthropy Roundtable." International Relations Center's Right Web. 1 June 2004. [11]
- ^ Transcript: Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher. 21 May 1997. [12]
- ^ Transcript: "New Rules." Real Time with Bill Maher. HBO.com. 21 April 2006. [13]
- ^ Bellafante, Genia. "The Network that Newt Built." Time Magazine. 9 January 1995. [14]
- ^ Howell, Leon. "Funding the war of ideas - conservative foundations." The Christian Century. 19 July 1995. [15]
- ^ Carolan, Matthew. "The Quotable Paul Johnson - book review." National Review. 31 December 1994. [16]
- ^ Fields, Suzanne. "Talking softly, with a big schtick." Jewish World Review. 25 October 2004. [17]
- ^ Gigot, Paul A. "Potomac Watch: Stop, Thief! Clinton bids for Newt's vision." Wall Street Journal. 27 January 1995.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- "Death by Bureaucracy", Wall Street Journal by Heather R. Higgins, 4 April 2005
