William Elias "Bill" Conway III (born May 8, 1978) is an American politician, attorney, businessman, and military veteran. He is the alderman for the 34th ward in the

Chicago City Council The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms. The council is gaveled into session regularly, usually mont ...

, having won the 2023 election for the office. Conway previously served as an assistant state's attorney for Cook County, Illinois and currently serves as

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

at DePaul University. He unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic Party's

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

for Cook County state’s attorney in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Early life and education

William Conway was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Joanne Boosalis Conway and

William E. Conway Jr. William E. "Bill" Conway Jr. (born August 27, 1949) is an American billionaire businessman, investor and philanthropist. Conway serves as Co-Executive Chairman of the Board, Founder of the The Carlyle Group, Carlyle Group. He also serves as Ch ...

, an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He attended the Latin School of Chicago, a private school in the Gold Coast neighborhood on the Near North Side. Conway entered The Wharton School, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Accounting in 2000. He received a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2006. Conway then graduated from the University of Chicago with an MBA degree in 2013.

Early career

From 2006 to 2012, Conway served as Assistant State's Attorney for Cook County State's Attorney's Officer under Richard A. Devine and Anita Alvarez, working on embezzlement cases in the public corruption office. The DePaulia notes that during his tenure "Conway prosecuted high level corruption and financial crime cases, including the police officers who embezzled one million dollars from the Chicago Sergeants Union in 2012." Conway served for 5 years as Military Intelligence Officer in the United States Navy and Air Force Central Command and Senior Intelligence Director in the

U.S. European Command The United States European Command (EUCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States military, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Its area of focus covers and 51 countries and territories, including Europe, Russia ...

in 2017-2021. During his military career, he received an Air Force Commendation Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal. Conway continues to serve in the U.S. Navy at the rank of Lieutenant Commander. In July 2013, he joined the Investment Banking/ Diversified Industries Division of

J.P. Morgan JP may refer to: Arts and media * ''JP'' (album), 2001, by American singer Jesse Powell * ''Jp'' (magazine), an American Jeep magazine * ''Jönköpings-Posten'', a Swedish newspaper * Judas Priest, an English heavy metal band * ''Jurassic Park ...

in Chicago as an investment banker managing portfolios of large manufacturers such as Ford Motor Company and

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

. Conway left the company in 2016. Since 2016, Conway has been serving as Adjunct Professor at the Department of Finance & Real Estate of DePaul University, teaching various courses on Finance and Real Estate. He also works as a venture partner and manager on several investments funds including

Hyde Park Angels Hyde Park Angels is a venture capital group founded in 2007 and based in Chicago, IL, which focuses on angel investments. Structure and application process The Hyde Park Angels' approach to investing is "more like a traditional venture capita ...

, Boos Brothers Investments, Luxe Bloom, LLC., Raputs, LLC. and Green Street Renewables, LLC.

Political career

2020 election for Cook County State's Attorney

In 2020, Conway ran for the Cook County State's Attorney office in Illinois, where he took 2nd place with 31% of the vote in the Democratic primary but lost to the incumbent Kim Foxx (50.19% of the vote) on March 17, 2020. Kim Foxx ultimately won the general election by defeating Republican Pat O'Brien. Various sources note that Conway's campaign was mostly sponsored by his father William E. Conway Jr with over $10 million, while Kim Foxx's campaign was supported large donations from Michael Sacks, Fred Eychaner, SEIU, Chicago Federation of Labor, EMILY's List, and George Soros. According to ''

The Chicago Reporter ''The Chicago Reporter'' is a monthly periodical based in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Founded in 1972, it covers poverty and race issues. It was founded by John A. McDermott, who sought to create "the nation's first publication devoted to analyzing a ...

'', "the Cook County state’s attorney’s race has already become the most expensive in Cook County history, with candidates raising almost $16 million combined, which is more than double that of the 2016 primary."

2023 election for Chicago City Council

In 2023, Conway was elected as an alderman on the

. During his election campaign, Conway addressed the crime situation in Chicago and pledged to allocate additional funds for security, suggesting an increase in the number of police officers and equipment to address crime in the city. Conway won the election with approximately 2/3 of the vote. Candidate Jim Ascot, who conceded the race, received about 33% of the votes Some sources have reported that Conway may be considering a run in the upcoming Chicago mayoral election.

Personal life

He is married to Brittany Conway. They have a daughter, Bella.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conway, Bill 1978 births 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American politicians American investors American lawyers Chicago City Council members Georgetown University Law Center alumni Living people Private equity and venture capital investors University of Chicago Booth School of Business alumni Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni