Young Boozer III
Young Jacob Boozer III (born November 23, 1948 in Birmingham) is the Alabama State Treasurer. He was previously an executive vice-president at Colonial Bank from 1985 to 2007 and Alabama's Deputy State Finance Director from 2008 to 2010.
Boozer is the son of Young Boozer, Alabama Crimson Tide football player and president of the Cotton States Insurance Company. He grew up in Tuscaloosa and earned his Eagle Scout badge in 1962. He left for California to earn a bachelor's degree in economics at Stanford University. In 1973 he completed his graduate degree at the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania while working as a financial analyst for the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in Washington D.C.
In 1973 Boozer became a senior account officer for Citibank in New York, New York. He left in 1978 to become a vice president in the natural resources department of the Crocker National Bank in Los Angeles, California. From 1980 to 1985 he was senior vice president for finance for Coral Petroleum in Houston, Texas. From there he returned to Alabama to work for Colonial Bank in Montgomery. He then spent 22 years with Colonial BancGroup.
In 2008 Boozer began a one-year tenure as financial advisor to the Alabama Public School and College Authority. He was appointed Deputy Finance Director for the State of Alabama by Governor Bob Riley in June 2009. He resigned from that post to run for State Treasurer. He defeated George Wallace Jr in the 2010 Republican primary, and Democratic candidate Charles Grimsley in the general election, which was dominated by public concern about the status of the Alabama Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (PACT) program which had lost more than 45% of its assets during the tenure of treasurer Kay Ivey.
Boozer was re-elected in 2014 without opposition. Term limits prevented him from running in the 2018 general election and was succeeded by fellow Republican John McMillan. Boozer then began working under Mike Hill as Assistant Superintendent of the Alabama State Banking Department. Ivey appointed him to her Study Group on Gambling Policy in 2020.
McMillan resigned in September 2021 to become executive director of the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission. Governor Ivey appointed Boozer to fill the remainder of his term. That November he signed onto a letter from West Virginia's Riley Moore warning banking executives that Republican State Treasurers would take collective action to limit contracts with any institution that engaged in "harmful fossil fuel industry boycotts." Boozer defeated Libertarian Party candidate Scott Hammond in the 2022 general election.
In 2023 Boozer, having been given sole authority to implement that "Distressed Institutions of Higher Education Revolving Loan Program" created by Act of Alabama 2023-560 in order to prevent the closure of Birmingham-Southern College, decided to deny the college's application. BSC filed a lawsuit seeking a court order for him to reverse that decision. The college claimed that Boozer's personal objections to the law, and his relationship with officers of BSC's largest creditor, Servis First Bank, had influenced his actions. The suit was dismissed under the sovereign immunity clause in the state constitution.
Boozer chairs the Banking and Cash Management Committee for the National Association of State Treasurers (NAST) and sits on the Governance Committee for its affiliated College Savings Plans Network (CSPN) and has chaired its national 529 campaign. He received NAST's Lucille Maurer Award in 2019.
Boozer has served on the boards of directors for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, for the Central Alabama Community Foundation and on the University of Alabama's President's Cabinet, as well as several other Montgomery-area civic groups. He also served on Stanford's Board of Trustees from 2003 to 2008. He was part-owner of the Montgomery Biscuits Southern League baseball team. He is also a member of the vestry of Montgomery's Episcopal Church of the Ascension.
| Preceded by: Kay Ivey |
Alabama State Treasurer January 28, 2011–January 13, 2019 |
Succeeded by: John McMillan |
| Preceded by: John McMillan |
Alabama State Treasurer October 1, 2021– |
Succeeded by: current |
References
- Cason, Mike (October 30, 2018) "What happened to PACT program on Kay Ivey’s watch?" The Birmingham News
- "Governor Ivey Accepts Resignation of State Treasurer John McMillan, Appoints Young Boozer." (September 17, 2021) Office of the Governor of Alabama press release
- Flowers, Steve (March 31, 2022) "Young Boozer, State Treasurer". op-ed. The Record (Dadeville, Alabama)
- "Young Boozer (October 18, 2023) Wikipedia - accessed October 27, 2023
- O'Leary, A. J. (October 19, 2023) "BSC lawsuit against state treasurer says grudge harmful to college." Birmingham Business Journal
External links
- About Young Boozer at treasury.alabama.gov
- Young Boozer at Ballotpedia.org