Harry Wilson was born and raised in Johnstown, NY, the son and grandson of working class Greek immigrants. He graduated from Johnstown High School in 1989 as valedictorian, class president and as one of 141 United States Presidential Scholars, the nation’s highest academic honor for high school students. He became the first in his direct family to attend college, graduating from Harvard College with honors and later earning his MBA from Harvard Business School.
Professionally, Harry built a career as one of the nation’s leading corporate turnaround investors and leaders. He spent his early career at some of the nation’s top financial firms, including Goldman Sachs; Clayton, Dubilier & Rice; the Blackstone Group; and Silver Point Capital, where he was a partner. During the financial crisis, Harry was named a Senior Advisor in the US Treasury Department and served as one of four leaders of the Auto Task Force, overseeing the restructurings of Chrysler and General Motors.
In 2010, Harry was the Republican nominee for New York State Comptroller, running on a platform to fix New York State’s finances. In what remains the strongest statewide Republican challenger showing since 1994, Harry narrowly lost to the incumbent, but he secured nearly 2.1 million votes and won 53 out of 62 counties.
Currently, Harry is the founder and CEO of MAEVA Group, LLC, a boutique merchant bank he founded in 2011 to focus on helping companies better compete and thrive for all stakeholders. In addition to many past boards, Harry serves on the boards of three major corporations (Sotheby’s, Visteon and Horizon Global) and several not-for-profits, including Youth, INC and The Hellenic Initiative. He was a presidential appointee to the Advisory Committee of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and, with his wife, Eva Romas Wilson, co-founded MAEVA Social Capital, which contributes to and helps grow promising nonprofits supporting the social, emotional and intellectual development of at-risk young children. He has also been very active in youth sports, coaching all four of his daughters on various teams.
Harry and Eva have been married for 22 years and are raising their four daughters in Scarsdale, NY.