William Sweeney, Jr. OBE is a businessman and politician who was the president and chief executive officer of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) from 2009 to 2018.
[1] After graduation, Bill Sweeney worked for the Montgomery County delegation to the Maryland General Assembly in Annapolis for the 1973 and 1974 sessions.
[2] In February 1974, he joined the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) as research director.
[2][3] In July 1977, he was appointed executive director of the DCCC by Chairman James C. Corman (D-CA).
[4] From 1985 to 1991, Sweeney was president of Washington Resources & Strategy, Inc.[2] The firm provided consulting services to Democratic political candidates as well as a spectrum of associations and corporations in Asia, Europe and the United States.
[5] Sweeney closed the firm in 1991 to become director of government relations for Electronic Data Systems (EDS), an information services company.
[5][8] He also conducted political training in advance of Hungary's first free election since 1945 for the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
[10] On June 2, 2009, Sweeney was appointed chief executive officer and president of IFES[2] and stepped down from the position on November 1, 2018.