Tom Ewing

In 2005 and 2006 he completed two task force assignments: first, with the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations to examine the future of U.S. agriculture policy, and second, as co-chairman of the Aspen Institute's three-day symposium on achieving the security, environmental, and economic potential of bioenergy.

He has received honorary Doctor of Law degrees from Lincoln College, The John Marshall Law School, and Millikin University. In 2002 he was honored by being selected by the Millikin Board of Trustees as a recipient of the Millikin Medallion Society award, the Illinois Farm Bureau Charles B. Shuman Distinguished Service Award, and inducted into the Hall of Fame of the 67th Sigma Alpha Epsilon Leadership School.

From 2001 to 2007, Ewing served as the chairman of the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee, a joint effort of the Department of Agriculture and Department of Energy to encourage renewable fuel development and production. The position was a non-paying appointment. He is a former director of the Energy Future Coalition and the Future Commodity Trading Commission, a regulatory body over America's future exchanges. He is also a former director of the Institute for Representative Government, a federally-funded bipartisan effort to advance democratic principles among the leaders of developing nations.

Ewing took an active part in the Republican Revolution that brought his party to the majority in the House of Representatives for the first time in more than 40 years. He was selected by Newt Gingrich to take his chairmanship of the Conservative Opportunity Society when he was elected House Speaker in 1995. A strong supporter of the Contract for America, he championed those efforts to achieve a balanced budget. Ewing was instrumental in rallying the support to elect Dennis Hastert Speaker of the House in 1998. In December 2000 he introduced the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000.

Ewing has a B.S. from Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois, where he was a member of the Illinois Delta chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and a J.D. from John Marshall Law School in Chicago. Ewing served in the United States Army Reserve from 1957 to 1963. He practiced law privately from 1968 until 1991, and Ewing was the Livingston County, Illinois Assistant State's Attorney from 1968 until 1973. He earned his seat in Congress after a special election was called following the resignation of Edward Madigan.

Thomas William Ewing (born September 19, 1935 in Atlanta, Illinois) is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives and the Illinois State House of Representatives. Ewing was a state representative from 1974 to 1991, and a U.S. Congressman representing the 15th district of Illinois from July 2, 1991 until his retirement on January 3, 2001. In January 1995 he was named a Deputy Republican House Whip. While a U.S. Congressman, Thomas Ewing was considered to be a Conservative, favoring a smaller, less intrusive government, but more on economic issues than on social ones.