Stanton Dowd

Stanton Dowd is amongst the Council of Five who leads the Illuminati prior to the Majestic 12 coup in 2034. He is also the leader of the contemporary Knights Templar who control the world's banks.

Illuminati years
Dowd is born into a wealthy family that have had Illuminati ties for generations. He is a well-known importer in America, and owns a superfreighter called the PRCS Wall Cloud.

During his time as a member of the Illuminati, Dowd is responsible for exercising financial pressure to aid the Illuminati in achieving their goals. He is based in New York City, and apparently never leaves it. In 2028, under the instructions of Lucius DeBeers, he works with Volkard Rand in New York to try to get the Human Restoration Act passed. Around the same time, Dowd discovers that Ashani Talwar and Masaaki Oshiro are involved in an illegal trading scheme of information stored in Palisade Bank Corporation facilities, and are responsible for the death of Simona Saridakis. Although it appears that Dowd is blackmailing them to give the Illuminati access to Palisade's servers, Masaaki Oshiro, Palisade's CTO, is in fact willingly working with him. Oshiro puts on an act to his wife, Ashani Talwar, in order to convince her to agree to Dowd's request. Once this has been accomplished, Oshiro and Dowd can commence with their plan which presumably involves granting the Illuminati complete access to the data of Palisade's clients.

MJ12 coup
During Majestic 12's coup d'état that overthrows the Illuminati, Bob Page neutralizes the high ranking Illuminati members that oppose his leadership. Among these is Stanton Dowd who Page destroys financially, thus rendering him powerless against Page's more ruthless cabal. Dowd, like the other members opposed to Majestic 12, is forced to go into hiding or else risk being assassinated. After this coup, Dowd's PRCS Wall Cloud comes into the possession of MJ12.

Post-coup
"Stanton Dowd comes from old, old money. These days, unfortunately, he doesn't actually have much of that old, old money... he just comes from it. Of course, for a family like Dowd's, "poor" is a relative term. It means they had to sell the yacht and one of the smaller castles, and they're down to their last railroad. Stanton Dowd isn't going to be boiling his Gucci loafers any time soon. Still, it's been a long and rather sudden fall.

The Dowds are also big noises in the secret ranks of the Illuminati... have been for generations. Stanton is no exception, having made it all the way to that organization's mysterious ruling council of five. Of course, these days even being a Prima Illuminatus doesn't mean as much as it used to.

Despite being poor, cut off from the seats of power, and just recently taken sick with the fatal gray death, Stanton Dowd always retains the unflappable charm and elan of the born aristocrat."

- description of Stanton Dowd

Although he used to be trusted friends of fellow Illuminati members such as Elizabeth DuClare, Dowd looses contact with the other members when he is forced to go into hiding. He stays under the radar in New York City, in locations such as the Dowd family crypt in Lower East Side Cemetery.

In 2051, the PRCS Wall Cloud is used by Majestic 12 to transport the Gray Death virus from Hong Kong to the United States. As the previous owner of the superfreighter, this brings Dowd to the attention of Tracer Tong, who also finds Illuminati "fingerprints" in the molecular structure of the Gray Death virus. Tong instructs JC Denton to contact Dowd in the hope that he can provide information on who created the virus. Before Dowd will agree to help him, JC must gain his trust. To this end, JC follows out Dowd's instructions to scuttle the Wall Cloud before the Gray Death has been unloaded. By this time, Dowd himself has contracted the Gray Death and is suffering from its effects. He asks JC to acquire a vial of Ambrosia for him to treat the disease. Once JC has sunk the Wall Cloud, Dowd offers all the information he can provide on the Gray Death virus. He reveals that Morgan Everett and Bob Page's "signatures" can be found on it, but that it is Page who is responsible for using it as a weapon.

Dowd supports Morgan Everett's proposal to JC Denton to kill Bob Page, allowing the Illuminati to take back control from Majestic 12. He contacts JC in Area 51 encouraging him to follow through with Everett's request.

Trivia

 * According to the Deus Ex Bible, "Stanton Dowd" is not his real name. However he can be found in the Dowd family crypt in New York, suggesting that at least his surname is real.
 * During Illuminati conferences in Deus Ex: Icarus Effect and Deus Ex: Human Revolution, one member of the meetings is located in New York. As most other Council of Five members are present, it is likely that this person is Stanton Dowd.