Bill Foster
DemocratU.S. Representative, IL-11| Age | 70 (b. 1955-10-07) |
| Gender | Male |
| In office since | 2008-03-08 (~18 yrs) |
| Race / ethnicity | White |
| Religion | None / religiously unaffiliated (does not identify with any religion) |
| Education | B.S. in Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1976); M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics, Harvard University (Ph.D. 1983) |
| Prior occupation | High-energy physicist and particle accelerator designer at Fermilab (22 years); businessman who co-founded Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc. (theatrical lighting manufacturer) at age 19 |
| Military service | No |
| Birthplace | Madison, Wisconsin |
| Marital status | Married — Aesook Byon |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence | Naperville, Illinois |
| Notable relatives | Father was a civil rights lawyer who helped write enforcement language behind the Civil Rights Act of 1964; brother Fred Foster co-founded Electronic Theatre Controls. No relatives in elected political office. |
Pending research: languages · openly lgbtq.
Career & politics
| First elected | 2008 |
| Previous offices | U.S. Representative for Illinois's 14th Congressional District (March 8, 2008 - January 3, 2011) |
| Committees | Committee on Financial Services · Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions (Ranking Member) · Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence · Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions · Committee on Science, Space, and Technology |
| Caucuses | New Democrat Coalition · Congressional Equality Caucus · Black Maternal Health Caucus · Congressional Arts Caucus · U.S.-Japan Caucus · Rare Disease Caucus |
| Leadership | Chair, House Financial Services Committee Task Force on Artificial Intelligence (118th Congress) · Member, bipartisan House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence · Former Chair, Science Committee Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight |
| Ideology | Moderate/centrist Democrat; member of the centrist New Democrat Coalition. FiveThirtyEight found he voted with President Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress. |
| Signature legislation | Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (co-authored amendments; 10 of his proposed amendments adopted) |
Financial
Net worth: estimate
| Market Vectors Intermediate Muni Index funds | fund · –$3,000,000 · 2018 |
| Promissory note (payments over time) | other · –$3,000,000 · 2018 |
| Securities & investments | stock · –$1,125,001 · 2018 |
| Real estate | real_estate · –$175,000 · 2018 |
Scandals & crimes ledger
No recorded incidents. Under the adjudicated-only methodology, an entry appears only when a court or official body has formally acted and the record is cited.