Mitt Romney Biography
|
 Widely
recognized for his leadership and accomplishments as
a public servant and in private enterprise, former
Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney currently serves
as the Honorary Chairman of the Free and Strong
America PAC.
Governor Romney In 2008, Governor Romney was a
leading candidate for the Republican presidential
nomination and distinguished himself as an important
voice in favor of strengthening our economy,
military, and families.
Elected Governor of Massachusetts in 2002, Governor
Romney presided over a dramatic reversal of state
fortunes and a period of sustained economic
expansion. Without raising taxes or increasing debt,
Governor Romney balanced the budget every year of
his administration, closing a $3 billion budget gap
inherited when he took office. By eliminating waste,
streamlining the government, and enacting
comprehensive economic reforms to stimulate growth
in Massachusetts, Romney got
the economy moving
again and transformed deficits into surpluses.
At the beginning of Governor Romney's term,
Massachusetts was losing thousands of jobs every
month. By the time he left office, the unemployment
rate was lower, hundreds of companies had expanded
or moved to Massachusetts, and in the last two years
of his term, the state had added approximately
60,000 jobs.
One of Governor Romney's top priorities as Governor
was reforming the education system so that young
people could compete for better paying jobs in the
global economy of the future. In 2004, Governor
Romney established the John and Abigail Adams
Scholarship Program to reward the top 25 percent of
Massachusetts high school students with a four-year,
tuition-free scholarship to any Massachusetts public
university or college. He has also championed a
package of education reforms, including merit pay,
an emphasis on math and science instruction,
important new intervention programs for failing
schools and English immersion for foreign-speaking
students.
In 2006, Governor Romney proposed and signed into
law a private, market-based reform that ensures
every Massachusetts citizen will have health
insurance, without a government takeover and without
raising taxes.
Governor Romney was elected to the Chairmanship of
the Republican Governors Association by his fellow
Governors for the 2006 election cycle, and raised a
record $27 million for candidates running in State
House contests around the country.
Romney first gained national recognition for his
role in turning around the 2002 Winter Olympics.
With the 2002 Games mired in controversy and facing
a financial crisis, Romney left behind a successful
career as an entrepreneur to take over as President
and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.
Governor Romney has said he felt compelled to assume
the seemingly impossible task of rescuing the Games
by both the urgings of his wife, Ann, and by the
memory of his father, George Romney, who had been a
successful businessman, three-term Governor of
Michigan, and a tireless advocate of volunteerism in
America.
In his three years at the helm in Salt Lake, Romney
erased a $379 million operating deficit, organized
23,000 volunteers, galvanized community spirit and
oversaw an unprecedented security mobilization just
months after the September 11th terrorist attacks,
leading to one of the most successful Olympics in
our country's history.
Prior to his Olympic service, Mitt Romney enjoyed a
successful career helping businesses grow and
improve their operations. From 1978 to 1984, Mr.
Romney was a Vice President at Bain & Company, Inc.,
a leading management consulting firm. In 1984,
Romney founded Bain Capital, one of the nation's
most successful venture capital and investment
companies. Bain Capital helped launch hundreds of
companies on a successful course, including Staples,
Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Domino's Pizza,
Sealy, Brookstone, and The Sports Authority. He was
asked to return to Bain & Company as CEO several
years later in order to lead a financial
restructuring of the organization. Today, Bain &
Company employs more than 2,000 people in 25 offices
worldwide.
Governor Romney has been deeply involved in
community and civic affairs, serving extensively in
his church and numerous charities including City
Year, the Boy Scouts, and the Points of Light
Foundation. He was also the Republican nominee for
U.S. Senate in 1994.
Governor Romney received his B.A., with Highest
Honors, from Brigham Young University in 1971. In
1975, he was awarded an MBA from Harvard Business
School, where he was named a Baker Scholar, and a
J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
Governor Romney and his wife Ann have been married
for 40 years and have five sons, five
daughters-in-law, and fourteen grandchildren.
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