Lyons Gray

Lyons Gray was an R.J. Reynolds tobacco company employee who went on to become a state Representative for North Carolina.

Biography
Lyons Gray started working for the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in 1967 as a salesman in the Western Detroit, Michigan Division. He was promoted to Assistant Division Manager in 1968. A native of North Carolina, Gray assisted in Sales Training and Development at RJR.[http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/ran14d00, at Pg. 10]

He continued to hold various positions in sales at RJR in subsequent years:


 * March, 1976 - Manager of National Accounts in the Sales Department, effective March 1,1976.


 * July, 1978 - Director of Trade Relations at RJR

-- Gray was nominated September 6, 2005, by President George W. Bush to be Chief Financial Officer at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Gray would replace Charles Johnson. His nomination was sent to the Senate on September 6, 2005, and he was confirmed on October 7, 2005.
 * April, 1979 - Lyons resigns from RJR

At the time of his nomination, Gray was serving on the EPA's Environmental Financial Advisory Board (EFAB) and became the board's new Chairman in March 2003.

Profiles
"Lyons Gray, after representing the 39th District in the North Carolina General Assembly for 14 years, is president of the Downtown Winston-Salem (North Carolina) Partnership and chairman of the EPA Environmental Finance Advisory Board. His daughter, Charlotte Gray, is a 1999 graduate of the Nicholas School's MEM program." (Spring 2003) Gray (R-Forsyth County, NC) retired from office in December 2002."

Gray "has both independent wealth and outstanding GOP credentials; his cousin, C. Boyden Gray, served as White House counsel to the first President Bush. But as a state representative he was known as a moderate. He quit the Legislature in 2002 in frustration, decrying 'extremists' in both parties. He also voted to water down a ban on partial-birth abortions and just last year voted to permit North Carolina counties to hike local sales taxes." 


 * Grandfather: Bowman Gray, Sr.
 * Father: Bowman Gray, Jr.
 * Uncle: Gordon Gray, Sr.
 * Cousin, C. Boyden Gray

SourceWatch Resources

 * Bush administration cronyism and incompetence