Business Roundtable named Henry R. Silverman, Chairman and CEO of Cendant Corporation…
Business Roundtable named Henry R. Silverman, Chairman and CEO of Cendant Corporation, as the new Chairman of its Fiscal Policy Task Force.
Silverman will spearhead the Roundtable’s efforts to advance federal tax and spending policies that foster vigorous economic growth and a healthy, competitive business climate domestically and internationally. Business Roundtable is comprised of 160 chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies.
Henry Silverman is an excellent choice to lead the Roundtable’s efforts to promote fiscal responsibility and a fair, pro-growth tax system, said Hank McKinnell, Chairman of Business Roundtable and Chairman and CEO of Pfizer Inc. He will play a key role in advocating our fiscal policy and tax reform principles to help increase the competitiveness of U.S. business, and encourage economic growth and job creation.
I’m pleased to lead the Roundtable in promoting fiscal priorities that maximize economic vibrancy in the U.S. and ensure the strength of our companies abroad, while encouraging the fiscal discipline necessary to help bring the federal budget into balance, Silverman said.
The Roundtable sent a letter to President Bush and Congressional leadership in December of last year urging support for policies that would help build a healthy, prosperous economy, and secure America’s future. The letter pointed to two specific fiscal policy priorities essential for this: reducing the federal deficit through spending and budget discipline; and supporting tax/fiscal policies that increase the competitiveness of U.S. businesses and encourage economic growth.
In May 2005, the Task Force submitted its Principles for Tax Reform to the President’s Advisory Panel on Tax Reform during the panel’s review of the U.S. tax system. The document stressed the importance of pursuing tax policies that control the federal deficit and maximize the potential growth rate of the U.S. economy by rewarding individuals as well as businesses.
The right fiscal and tax policies can help the United States continue to lead the world as the engine of global economic growth, Silverman added.
In 1990, Silverman founded HFS Incorporated – the predecessor of Cendant – and served as the company’s Chairman, President and CEO until Cendant’s formation in 1998. As an investor in and manager of private equity during the 1980s, his principal areas of focus included Days Inns of America, now part of Cendant; and Telemundo Group, which was founded by Silverman in 1985 and was most recently sold to General Electric Company in 2002. In addition to his position at Cendant, Silverman’s principal public service activity is serving as a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Chairman of its finance committee. Additionally, he is a trustee of New York University and its School of Medicine and Medical Center, and a director of the NYU Child Study Center; a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania and the University`s healthcare affiliate, Penn Medicine; a member of JP Morgan`s National Advisory Board; a member of the Executive Committee of the World Travel and Tourism Council; a member of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board; a member of the G-100; and a former trustee of the Dance Theater of Harlem, the Hospital for Joint Diseases and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
In 1998, Silverman received the American Heritage Award from the Anti-Defamation League for lifetime achievement in fighting discrimination. He has been honored twice for his efforts to promote diversity in the workplace; first in 2001, by the Jackie Robinson Foundation and again in 2003, by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Silverman graduated from Williams College in 1961, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1964, and served as a Navy reserve officer from 1965 to 1972.
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