Meet Bill Foster
Bill Foster represents Illinois' 14th Congressional District, which spans from the west suburbs of Chicago to nearly the Mississippi River.
He is currently serving in his second term of office, after winning two elections for office in 2008. In a nationally watched race, Rep. Foster won a special election in March 2008 to complete the term of former Republican Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert. In addition to being a bell weather for races to come, this win earned him the distinction of being the first Democrat to represent the 14th District since the 1970s. Rep. Foster followed up his March victory with another 16-point win in November 2008, and was sworn-in on January 3, 2009. He has made the most of his time in office by scoring four major legislative victories with the passage and enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Credit Card Bill of Rights, the widening of SCHIP to cover 11 million more children, and the creation of the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission.
Designing, building, and managing some of the most advanced research facilities in science, building a successful multi-million dollar business from scratch, and creating good jobs for hundreds of people in the United States are some of the highlights of Rep. Foster's career before he entered politics. Everyday he brings the same problem-solving skills, common sense, and tireless work ethic that guided his success in science and business and puts it to work for the people of the 14th District.
Today he resides with his wife, Aesook, in Batavia.
For more a more detailed background on Rep. Foster's life before politics, see below.
SCIENCE: Bill came to the Fox Valley in 1984 to raise his family and to pursue an exciting scientific career at Fermilab, home of the world's most powerful particle accelerators. During his 22 years at Fermilab he participated in leading-edge scientific research, designed and built state-of-the-art physics experiments, and led teams of people to help build Fermilab's giant particle accelerators. (read more about Bill's science career)
BUSINESS: Before coming to Fermilab, Bill was a successful businessman. When he was 19, Bill and his younger brother started a business from scratch in their basement. Starting with $500 from their parents, they built a company that now manufactures over half of the theater lighting equipment in the United States. Their equipment is used on Broadway shows, Rolling Stones tours, the great Opera houses, half-time shows at the Super-Bowl, and at churches, schools, and community theaters throughout the country. Their company sells millions of dollars of equipment around the world and provides over 500 good jobs - with good pay and benefits - here in the Midwest. (read more about Bill's business career)
FAMILY: Bill's father was trained as a chemist but spent much of his career as a civil rights lawyer. He wrote much of the enforcement code (federal regulations) behind the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – the part that denied federal funds to school systems that refused to let black and white kids go to the same school. Bill's mother worked in the office of Illinois Senator Paul H. Douglas, which is where she met Bill's father. His mom came from a long line of inventors, but worked in her career to help law enforcement officers get college degrees, and to help college students become cops.
Bill's children Billy and Christine were born and raised in the Fox Valley. His son, Billy, graduated from Batavia High School, received a BA in Math and Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006. He worked for a leading medical imaging and radiation therapy firm before entering law school in 2009. Bill's daughter Christine went to schools in Batavia and attended the Illinois Math and Science Academy (IMSA) in Aurora. She is a graduate of Stanford University.(read more about Bill's family)
ROOTS IN THE COMMUNITY: In 1984 Bill Foster came to the communities of the Fox Valley in to raise his family and to work at the world's most powerful particle accelerator at Fermilab. Over the next 22 years he lived and raised his family in each of the "Tri-Cities" along the Fox River: Batavia, Geneva, and St. Charles. Today he lives with his wife, Aesook, in Batavia. (read about Bill's roots in our community)
EDUCATION: Bill was born in 1955 in Madison, Wisconsin and received his BA in Physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1975 and his Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University in 1984. He has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society, received the Rossi Prize for Cosmic Ray Physics for the discovery of the neutrino burst from Supernova SN1987a, received the Particle Accelerator Technology Prize from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and was awarded an Energy Conservation award from the U.S. Department of Energy for his invention and application of permanent magnets for Fermilab's accelerators. (read about Bill's professional awards)