Bill Halter is the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas.

A fourth generation Arkansan, Bill Halter has a unique combination of public and private sector leadership experience and a track record of success that will serve our state well as we work to improve the quality of life for all Arkansans.

He has advised the President of the United States, led a Cabinet-rank agency, provided economic analysis to the United States Congress, consulted for Fortune 500 companies, served as a board member for some of the nation’s most promising information technology and biotechnology companies, and served as a Stanford University Trustee.

Nominated by President Bill Clinton and confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate in 1999, Halter served as the Deputy Commissioner and later as Acting Commissioner of Social Security. As Social Security’s Chief Operating Officer, he led one of our nation’s most important and effective government programs -- an agency with 1,500 offices and 65,000 employees that delivers more than $500 billion in benefits to over 48 million Americans, including almost 540,000 Arkansans.
[1]
“Your leadership at the Social Security Administration has helped to prepare America for the challenges of the new century, and your efforts have played a vital role in improving the lives of all our citizens,” President Clinton wrote Halter. “On behalf of a grateful nation, I commend you for a job well done.”

Halter has a track record of helping to balance budgets and to reduce bureaucracy and waste. In 1993, Halter began service in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Executive Office of the President. During his six years with OMB in President Clinton’s Administration, the U.S. annual federal budget deficit of $290 billion was transformed into a $125 billion surplus and federal civilian employment was reduced to its lowest level since the Kennedy Administration. This period saw the federal budget balanced for the first time in forty years.

Prior to this, he was an Economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress and Chief Economist for the United States Senate Finance Committee.

Not a career politician, Halter’s business background offers Arkansas leadership with the experience and know-how needed to expand economic development and attract new jobs for Arkansans.

Before entering public service, he was a Management Consultant with McKinsey and Company where he advised companies in a range of industries and coauthored a study on the management practices of successful companies. Currently, Bill Halter is a member of the Board of Directors of two public companies in biotechnology and information technology: Threshold Pharmaceuticals, which is developing drugs to combat cancer and Akamai Technologies, the leading global service provider for accelerating content and business processes online delivers approximately 15-20% of daily Web traffic worldwide.  He previously served on the Board of InterMune, a biopharmaceutical company that develops drugs to target life-threatening lung and blood diseases; Xenogen, a leader in 3-D imaging which speeds development of cancer-fighting drugs and webMethods, a leading provider of software and services for business integration.

A lifelong advocate of educational opportunity for all, Bill Halter understands that improving our schools is the key to a better economy for Arkansas and a better future for all Arkansans. He is a Trustee Emeritus of Stanford Universit [2]y, having served on its Board of Trustees for seven years and having chaired its Committee on Academic Policy. Also at Stanford, he is a member of the Humanities and Sciences Council and the Advisory Council for Stanford University Libraries. In addition, he is a member of the National Advisory Board of Friends for Youth, a program that matches youth-in-need with adult mentors.