User:WilliamHurd

Early Life
William Ballard Hurd (August 19, 1977) was born in in San Antonio, Texas to Robert and Mary Alice Hurd. He is the youngest of three children. Hurd was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Methodist Hospital for several weeks after his birth because of severe respiratory issues. Due to a speech impediment that lasted until middle school, he was extremely shy as a small child. In high school Hurd developed an interest in public service, played varsity basketball and was elected Homecoming King at John Marshall High School in San Antonio. While in high school he worked for his parents’ small beauty supply business and beauty school making deliveries and stocking the store room. Upon graduation Hurd was accepted to Stanford University, but chose to attend Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.

College
While in college, Hurd maintained a 3.0 grade point average and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a minor in International Studies. During his time at Texas A&M he studied abroad in Mexico City at LaSalle University, worked for Amkor Technology in Manila, Philippines, one of the world’s largest providers of contract semiconductor assembly and test services, was a counselor for the Champe Fitzhugh International Leadership program in Italy and interned with IBM in Austin, Texas. Hurd was active in a variety of student programs and was president of Texas A&M’s student union. As president he managed a budget of 5.6 million dollars and oversaw two thousand student volunteers who ran 16,000 programs annually.

Hurd won his first public election while in college, and served as the Student Body President of Texas A&M University. He represented 45,000 students and worked with the University Administration, Faculty and Staff to improve the quality of life for all Texas A&M students. Hurd was Student Body President in 1999 when the school’s annual Bonfire collapsed killing 12 people and injuring dozens more. Hurd served as the spokesperson for the Texas A&M student body during this time and appeared on several national news programs to discuss the tragedy.

Later Life
Upon graduation, Hurd moved to Washington, DC and joined the National Clandestine Service of the CIA. Since 2000 he has lived all over the world in his position as an Operations Officer for the Central Intelligence Agency. His primary duty was to collect and disseminate foreign intelligence to assist The President and senior government policymakers in making decisions relating to national security. During the past nine years, Hurd lived primarily in South Asia. Hurd was involved in rescue efforts in India during the tsunami of 2005 and in Pakistan during the earthquake of 2006. Hurd was a senior manager during the last few years of his CIA career and has considerable experience in the areas of counterterrorism, Islamic extremism, counterinsurgency, counter-proliferation, cybersecurity, counterintelligence and South Asian political affairs.

Hurd returned from overseas in July 2009 and is currently a Republican candidate for a U.S. Congressional seat.