Donald Evans

President Bush's best friend, this was Evans's first position in government. The Commerce Department has traditionally been the area in which presidents position close friends and party stalwarts. Evans headed up the Bush-Cheney campaign and served as national finance chairman for Gov. George W. Bush's gubernatorial campaigns. In 1975, he started out as a “roughneck” on an oil rig at Tom Brown, Inc. Ten years later he became the company's CEO, a position he maintained until he became the 34th secretary of Commerce.