Douglas Lowenstein is the founder and former President of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). He resigned on February 12, 2007 to head up the newly formed Private Equity Council. Doug graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 1973, and started his career as a reporter for The Buffalo Courier Express from 1973―1974. He was awarded the Buffalo newspaper Guild's Rookie of the Year award in 1974. He moved to Washington, DC in 1974 to take a position as a reporter for the Capitol Hill News Service. In 1976, he joined the Cox Newspapers Washington Bureau. After six years at Cox, Lowenstein joined the Senate staff of U.S. Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum, Democrat of Ohio. He served the last two years of his five-year stint on the Hill as Metzenbaum's Legislative Director.