Harry Wilson (businessman)

Harry Wilson is the son of Jim and Niki Wilson. Jim was a resident of Johnstown, New York, and Niki was born and raised in central Greece before moving to Johnstown. Jim was a bartender, and Niki was a housewife and later a sewing machine operator.[2] Wilson graduated as valedictorian from Johnstown High School.[7] He obtained an AB with honors in government and an MBA from Harvard University,[8] where he was president of the Harvard Republican Club in 1991; in that role, Wilson was outspoken in his efforts to increase the club's appeal to women with a "big tent" approach.[2]

Wilson has worked for Blackstone Group and Goldman Sachs. He later became a partner at Silver Point Capital before his retirement at the age of 36.[2] He joined Yahoo!'s board of directors in May 2012.[9]

Wilson is the CEO of the MAEVA Group, an advisory firm he founded in White Plains, New York in 2011.[10] In March 2021 he was appointed CEO of Genesis HealthCare.[11]

After a career as a money management executive, Wilson left the business world to pursue charity work and public service at the age of 36.[2] He served on President Barack Obama's auto industry crisis task force.[1][12] He took the position at the age of 37 with the Treasury Department in March, 2009 at the request of Steven Rattner, the lead adviser on the auto industry crisis.[2][13] Wilson led a small group of people within the auto task force known internally as the "deals and diligence team", which did much of the analytical research that underpinned the task force's policy decisions, conducting interviews, touring auto plants and poring over financial records.[2] Wilson testified at GM's bankruptcy court hearings in the Southern District Bankruptcy Court of New York in July, 2009, noting that the government intends to sell its shares in the bankrupt GM.[14] Wilson was also one of four senior advisers for the U.S. Treasury Department under President Obama.[13]

Lee Zeldin, a 2022 Republican primary opponent in the governor's race, has criticized Wilson's efforts to save GM as "working for Obama[15]", but neglects to say that Wilson saved several thousand jobs GM jobs for New York workers, both at GM locations and GM supplier locations in New York State,[16]

In 2009, Wilson was a member of Westchester County Executive-elect Rob Astorino's transition team.[1]

2010 campaign for New York State Comptroller

Wilson in 2010

Main article: 2010 New York State Comptroller election

On February 16, 2010, Wilson announced his candidacy in the Republican primary for New York State Comptroller.[3] He ran unopposed for the nomination, and ran against incumbent Democrat Thomas DiNapoli in the general election. Wilson garnered the endorsements of New York City's three major daily newspapers - the New York Daily News, New York Post, and New York Times - considered a major achievement given the three newspapers' differing political perspectives.[17] It was the first time since 1976 that a challenger had swept all three endorsements.[17]

DiNapoli prevailed over Wilson in the November 2, 2010 general election by a margin of 50.78%-46.26%.[18] Wilson conceded defeat the day after the election.[4][5][6] Despite the loss, Capitol News rated Wilson's campaign the best in 2010 in all of New York State,[19] as Wilson had the closest showing for a New York statewide Republican campaign since 2002.[20]

Wilson married Eva Romas in 1997. They have four daughters, and live in Scarsdale, New York. Wilson is a member of the Greek Orthodox Church.[8]