Ian Bowles

Who is Ian Bowles?

Ian A. Bowles is an American environmentalist, businessman, politician, and political aide who served as Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs from 2007 to 2011.

Bowles began his career in politics as a legislative aide to Congresswoman Claudine Schneider. After Schneider left office, Bowles became a policy analyst and later Vice President at Conservation International. He played a key role in creation of the Central Suriname Nature Reserve, a 4 million acre park that is one of the largest tropical forest protected areas in the world. Bowles was co-editor of Footprints in the Jungle: Natural Resource Industries, Infrastructure, and Biodiversity Conservation.

In 1996 he was a Democratic candidate for United States Representative in Massachusetts's 10th congressional district. He finished in third place, with 22 percent of the vote, in the four-candidate primary behind Bill Delahunt and Philip W. Johnston.

From 1999 to 2001, Bowles served under President Bill Clinton as Senior Director of Global Environmental Affairs at the National Security Council and as Associate Director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Clinton also appointed Bowles to the Enterprise for the Americas Board.