of Internal Revenue, the head of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 1, 2003 as its 46th commissioner. Areas of focus during his tenure with the IRS included combating abusive tax shelters and the development of more productive enforcement relationships with counterpart tax authorities in other countries. Everson left the IRS effective May 4, 2007, before the end of his term to join the American Red Cross as its new CEO. Later, Everson was a cabinet member for Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels from January 2009 to May 2012, where he served initially as Department of Administration Commissioner. From 2010–2012, Everson served as the Commissioner of the Department of Workforce Development, where he oversaw the state's unemployment system and federal training programs. In this role, Everson began a program that was endorsed by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and the Indiana Manufacturers Association that helped qualifying ex-offenders realize employment opportunities. American Red Cross On April 18, 2007, the Board of Governors of the American Red Cross unanimously approved Everson as President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Red Cross, effective May 29, 2007. On November 27, 2007, the Board of Governors, after learning that Everson engaged in a personal relationship with a subordinate employee, asked for and received Everson's resignation. The New York Post reported that the "personal relationship" was with a married woman, Paige Roberts, CEO of the Southeast Mississippi Red Cross chapter. 2016 presidential campaign On March 5, 2015, Everson announced his intention to seek the Republican Party's nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 Presidential election. He launched his bid with a video and 16-page open letter, in which he laid out six primary issues: On September 11, 2015, the Des Moines Register published an op-ed entitled "Iowans should learn Everson's name, ideas", praising him as a candidate "insider enough to understand the messy business of political compromise, and outsider enough, in his words, not to 'owe any backers.'" Everson was the first declared candidate to open an office in Iowa, and logged more visits to the state than seven major candidates. He was one of the 18 candidates listed on the Republican National Committee's straw poll, and he outperformed some of the GOP's front-runners in non-scientific straw polls. However, he was not listed in the Iowa Poll sponsored by Register and Bloomberg Politics and was