For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 13, 2005

Personnel Announcement

President George W. Bush today announced that he has named Jim Towey to be Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Since 2002, he has served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

"Jim Towey is helping to empower the armies of compassion in America to solve some of our Nation's most pressing problems. He is a tireless servant for those in need, and I look forward to his continued counsel in a second term," stated President Bush.

Mr. Towey was a senior advisor to U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield and Florida Governor Lawton Chiles. In 1993, Governor Chiles appointed him Director of the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. In 1985, Mr. Towey met Mother Teresa while visiting her home for the dying in Calcutta, India. He went on to serve as legal counsel to her for 12 years and in 1990 lived as a full-time volunteer in her home for people with AIDS in Washington, D.C. Mr. Towey received his bachelor's degree and J.D. from Florida State University. He and his wife Mary have five children.

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