WASHINGTON, DC, July 18, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Kent Higgon Hughes, LLB, PhD, with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Dr. Hughes celebrates many years' experience in his professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued in her field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Dr. Hughes has almost five decades of professional experience that include several senior positions on Capitol Hill, president of the private sector Council on Competitiveness, Associate Deputy Secretary in the U.S. Department of Commerce, and senior roles at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars. He complements his professional work as an Adjunct Faculty Member of the Boston University program in Washington.
Dr. Hughes professional history has shown initiative and action. On Capitol Hill, Dr. Hughes worked on foreign economic policy and competitiveness, oversaw policy for a presidential candidate, and served as chief economist for Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd.
As President of the private sector Council on Competitiveness, Dr. Hughes helped lead an effort that explored many aspects of America's competitive position, hosted some of Michael Porter's pioneering work on competitiveness, and helped put competitiveness and technology policy on the Washington policy agenda.
As Associate Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Dr. Hughes worked on the Department's competitiveness agenda, wrote several reports including two that spelled out the Administration's growth policy, worked closely with the National Economic Council on a number of initiatives, and did extensive outreach on the electronic, aerospace, and other industries.
At the Woodrow Wilson Center, Dr. Hughes directed the Program on America and the Global Economy. In addition to overseeing and conducting research and programmatic events, he established a number of initiatives including the "Wilson Center on the Hill" program, and the "Global Energy Initiative." Dr. Hughes also planned and directed the "NAFTA at 10" conference that hosted the original signatories of the original agreement. It was the largest event ever held by the Wilson Center.
Like many in his generation, President Kennedy's inaugural address inspired Dr. Hughes to focus his efforts on making the country and the world a better place. It was Kennedy's call to "ask not what the country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country." Dr. Hughes describes himself as part of the 'ask not generation'.
Dr. Hughes graduated from Pendleton Senior High School in Pendleton, Oregon. He then joined the Yale class of 1962 (receiving a BA in Political and Economic Institutions) and a law degree (LLB) from Harvard in 1965. With an interest in growth in the developing world, Dr. Hughes completed a doctorate in economics (1976) at Washington University in St. Louis. As part of his studies, he spent two years in Brazil on Ford Foundation sponsored programs as an International Legal Center Fellow and a Latin American Teaching Fellow.
Dr. Hughes first worked in Washington as a college intern for Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon and, the next year, as an intern in the Pentagon. His early career in Washington included work as an attorney at the Urban Law Institute (1970-71) and legislative counsel for Senator Vance Hartke of Indiana (1971-72), with responsibilities for taxes, trade, and much of the work of the Senate Finance Committee. His work on trade quickly led to a focus on U.S.-Japan economic relations.
He pursued his work on the economy at the Congressional Research Service (1973-76). Returning to the Congress, he held a series of senior positions. He spent several years as a senior economist with the Congressional Joint Economic Committee (1977-82) and worked as policy director in the Office of Senator Gary Hart during the Senator's first run for the presidency (1983-84).
While at the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, Dr. Hughes acted as the chief economist for the House Democratic Caucus. He authored the long-term growth strategy for the Caucus; a strategy that formed a key part of the Caucus's Rebuilding the Road to Opportunity (1982). Noting its yellow cover, the press quickly dubbed it the Yellow Brick Road.
Continuing his interest in foreign economic policy, he worked on the trade subcommittee of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs that had responsibility for export control legislation and several aspects of international economic policy. He then served as the Chief Economist for Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd on the Democratic Policy Committee. He was responsible for following the legislative agendas of the Banking and Finance Committee with a focus on foreign economic and tax policy.
At the Foreign Affairs Committee and as chief economist to Majority Leader Byrd, Dr. Hughes played an active role in developing what became the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. Drawing on the work of several committees in both the House and the Senate, the Act was a competitiveness strategy in legislative form.
During the late 1970s and the 1980s, Japan became a major economic competitor to the United States while pursuing a very different approach to economic policy. Where the United States viewed government more as a referee, Japan set industrial priorities, worked closely with industry, shielded key industries from international competition, acquired intellectual property by a variety of means, and promoted their exports with subsidies and by keeping their currency artificially low.
Faced with a systemic challenge as well as a strong competitor, Dr. Hughes and several others working on foreign economic policy developed an interest in how the U.S. economy functions in the context of global economic competition. He became an active participant in what became the competitiveness movement that developed policies to make America more productive in a way that benefitted all Americans and met the rigors of international competition.
Dr. Hughes's interest in and work on competitiveness brought him to the Council on Competitiveness as President (1990—93). Founded by John Young, CEO of Hewlett Packard, the Council grew out of Young's work as the chair of President Reagan's Commission on Industrial Competitiveness. Like the Commission, the Council included major CEOs from the manufacturing and high technology worlds, presidents of major universities, and several leaders from organized labor.
While at the Council, Dr. Hughes was part of a successful effort to put competitiveness and technology policy on the national agenda. The continued national interest in competitiveness and the critical importance of innovation as America's secret sauce can be traced to the work of the Council.
With a campaign concerned about productivity growth and international competition, the Clinton campaign and President Elect Clinton turned to the Council on Competitiveness for advice. At that time, President Clinton and his team invited Dr. Hughes to take the post of Associate Deputy Secretary of Commerce. At Commerce, Dr. Hughes worked on linking technology and trade. In his speeches, he often stressed that today's innovation is tomorrow's export. On behalf of the Department, he worked closely with the National Economic Council on initiatives that ranged from the prospects for future jobs, valuing fixed price stock options, and developing technologies for use in K-12 schools.
Responding to the need to define and promote a competitiveness agenda, Dr. Hughes decided to write a history of how the idea arose and became national policy. The Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars offered Dr. Hughes a public policy fellowship to write that book. Dr. Hughes had published an earlier book, International Decision Making in Congress: Trade, Taxes, and Transnationals (1979) and he drew on that experience in writing his history, Building the Next American Century: The Past and Future of American Economic Competitiveness (2005).
The Wilson Center asked Dr. Hughes to continue his work on foreign economic policy, innovation, and competitiveness. For a considerable period, he directed the America and the Global Economy Program (2002-2013). He is now a Public Policy Fellow associated with the Center's Global Europe Program.
Dr. Hughes continues his work on building the future. He is a member of the Executive Advisory Board of FIRST Inspires (FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Founded by inventor entrepreneur Dean Kamen and MIT professor of Mechanical Engineering, Woodie Flowers, FIRST's goal is to create the next generation of innovators.
FIRST has grown from a handful of high schools to a program that has more than 60,000 teams that now start in the first grade. He is a member of the executive advisory board of RIST Inspires, an educational, global robotics program. Dr. Hughes is a founding member of the Industry Studies Association, a member of the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC, and, in his younger days, he served as President of the George Washington Rugby Football Club. He is also a member of the American Bar Association, the D.C. Bar Association, and the American Economic Association.
In recognition of outstanding contributions to his profession and the Marquis Who's Who community, Kent Higgons Hughes, LLB, PhD, has been featured on the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement website. Please visit www.ltachievers.com for more information about this honor.
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