Posted on 04/08/2002 8:45:53 PM PDT by TLBSHOW
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Neil Bush is traveling the world raising money for his new education company, along the way getting entertained by a crown prince in the Middle East and wined, dined and serenaded by China's president.
A decade after his ties to a failed savings and loan brought his family unwanted attention, the president's brother has raised at least $18 million for his Ignite Inc. startup from investors as far away as Egypt and Japan.
"Let's face the reality: I probably have access to people who probably wouldn't meet with a development-stage company, but I feel I'm held to a higher standard," Bush says.
As brother Jeb became governor of Florida and brother George W. worked his way to the White House, Neil Bush, now 46, was working out of the public limelight at a Utah venture capital firm in the 1990s.
His prior association with the Silverado Savings and Loan in Colorado, whose failure cost taxpayers $1 billion, led to a grand jury investigation at the end of his father's presidency in the early 1990s.
Federal regulators accused Neil Bush of conflicts of interest for failing to disclose personal ties to two Silverado borrowers who defaulted on loans, but he was never charged. During the height of the controversy, critics posted "Jail Neil Bush" posters on lampposts in Washington.
In 1999, Bush formed Ignite with $450,000, inspired by his own experience as a child with dyslexia to create Internet-based lessons designed to give students more control over how they learn.
The company is developing interactive, multimedia lessons that let students pick pictures, sound, video and graphics to create presentations on the topics they are studying.
Bush promotes his products as more stimulating than traditional school textbooks, which he derides as "the ultimate villain" in education. He also sees an opportunity for home-schooling families.
Ignite's first product is an early American history course for middle-school students. Ignite is marketing it to schools for use next fall and is testing the software in 12 districts.
The students "like having some say and some choice," said Bonnie Williamson, principal of Atlanta's Joseph E. Brown Middle School, which is testing Bush's product.
Although he shuns the politics that made his parents and two brothers famous, Bush has inherited some of the family's political acumen.
He mingles with students during personal visits to schools testing his wares. And he sprinkles his pitches with anecdotes from within his famous family.
Speaking to students at Northern Kentucky University recently, Bush said the idea for Ignite came from his childhood experience with dyslexia — when his mother shuttled him to remedial reading classes on weekends — and from his teen-age son Pierce's difficulties in middle school.
"I was lost," Bush said of his middle-school years.
To avoid any potential conflicts of interest, he said, Ignite won't ask the federal government or the state of Florida for any contracts or grants.
But Bush has promoted his products in both places.
Last month, he spoke at the Florida Educational Technology Conference, along with U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige and top state education officials and industry executives.
In Washington, he co-chaired a January education technology industry meeting on federal policy where the guest speakers included Paige and Phil Bond, the undersecretary of commerce for technology.
Bush counts two of the president's former technology advisers, Peter Su and Robert Stearns, on his Ignite team.
Protected by Secret Service agents, Neil Bush travels an average of two or three days a week.
He took a Red Sea vacation in March 2001 with Egyptian business magnate Hamza El Khouli, an Ignite investor. "It's a good company, a sound company, an investor in education," El Khouli said.
Bush visited the Dubai crown prince, Gen. Shayk Muhammad Bin-Rashid Al Maktum, in the United Arab Emirates in October. Bush said he is not pursuing business opportunities there, although the prince has a program that installs computers in schools.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin (news - web sites) threw a private dinner for Bush in Beijing in December, even serenading him at one point with a military song he learned as a youth, one of those present said.
The meeting drew the attention of the South China Morning Post, which headlined its story: "Private meal leaves Jiang feeling brotherly."
Bush declined to discuss the visit but said he is interested in U.S.-China relations. His father was President Ford's envoy to China.
"If I had any meetings with top-level China officials, the word Ignite never came into any conversation," he said.
Bush occasionally dabbles in international affairs.
Speaking at a Saudi Arabian economic forum in January, a venue where former President Clinton (news - web sites) also spoke, Bush referred to growing anti-American sentiment in Arab countries and said the two peoples must communicate better.
Bush said he has courtesy visits with world leaders but has no plans to wade into foreign policy or pitch Ignite to overseas governments.
"Oftentimes because of my father's goodwill, and because I'm sure because of the president being who he is, people might extend an invitation, and it's enjoyable for me," Bush said. "Some of these folks are family friends."
The White House appears unfazed by his globe-trotting. "The president knows his brother will always do the right thing," press secretary Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) said.
Neil Bush's efforts have attracted some 60 investors — including Knowledge Universe, a company chaired by former junk bond king Michael Milken, and the Nagase Brothers education company in Japan.
Other investors include Bush's parents and Winston Wong, a Taiwan businessman who started the Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. with Jiang's eldest son.
Among the Bush family friends and political donors who have invested is Timothy Bridgewater, chief executive of Interlink Management, the venture capital firm he and Neil Bush started, and one of the Republican "Pioneers" who helped George W. Bush raise at least $100,000 during the 2000 campaign.
Neil Bush said his goal is to break even in three years and dominate the middle-school market within seven years. He also is open to being a partner with a textbook, telephone or cable TV company that could expand the reach of his product to home-schooled children.
Asked whether he hopes his work in education will erase the memory of Silverado, Bush said he is too focused on family and business to worry about image.
"I'm especially happy now in my professional life because I love what I do," he said. "And there's nothing anybody can say about my past that will get me off track."
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