Mary Fallin
27th Governor of Oklahoma
Incumbent
Assumed office January 10, 2011
Lieutenant	Todd Lamb
Preceded by	Brad Henry
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oklahoma's 5th district
In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Ernest Istook
Succeeded by	James Lankford
14th Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma
In office January 9, 1995 – January 2, 2007
Governor	Frank Keating Brad Henry
Preceded by	Jack Mildren
Succeeded by	Jari Askins
Member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from the 85th district
In office 1990 – 1995[1]
Preceded by	???
Succeeded by	Odilia Dank
Personal details
Born	(1954-12-09) December 9, 1954 (age 57) Warrensburg, Missouri, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Joseph Fallin (1984-1998)[2] Wade Christensen[2]
Residence	Governor's Mansion
Alma mater	Oklahoma Baptist University University of Central Oklahoma Oklahoma State University, Stillwater
Signature
Website	Official Website Campaign website

Mary Fallin (born December 9, 1954) is the 27th and current Governor of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. She was a U.S. Representative for Oklahoma's 5th congressional district from 2007 until 2011.^[3]

She is the second woman elected to the United States Congress from Oklahoma and the first since 1921 when Alice Mary Robertson was elected to Congress and served for one term from 1921 to 1923. She was the first Republican and first woman to serve as Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma. She served in that post from 1995 to 2007. She is also the first woman to serve as Governor in the state of Oklahoma.

Early life, education, and early political career[link]

Fallin was born Mary Copeland in Warrensburg, Missouri, the daughter of Mary Jo (née Duggan) and Joseph Newton Copeland.^[4] Her mother and father both served terms as mayor of Tecumseh, where she was raised. Now a resident of Oklahoma City, she has long made the Fifth District her home. A graduate of Tecumseh High School, Fallin attended Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee as well as the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. Fallin holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Oklahoma State University.

Fallin was first elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 1990. During her two terms as a State Representative she was recognized by the American Legislative Exchange Council as Legislator of the Year and named Guardian of Small Business by the National Federation of Independent Business.

Lieutenant Governor (1995–2007)[link]

In 1995, Fallin became Oklahoma’s first woman and first Republican to be elected as the Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma. As lieutenant governor, Fallin served as president of the Senate and on ten boards and commissions that impact the quality of life and business in Oklahoma, including the Tourism and Recreation Commission, State Board of Equalization, Oklahoma Land Commission and Film Advisory Commission. She pursued an aggressive agenda focusing on economic development, education, health care and government reform during her 12 years in office.

In the Cabinet-level position of small business advocate during the Keating administration, Fallin fought the rising cost of health insurance and excessive government regulation. Fallin was also instrumental in initiating several economic development events including the first-ever Oklahoma Aerospace Summit and Expo, Small Business Day at the Capitol and Telecommunications Day at the Capitol. She also hosted the Lieutenant Governor’s Invitational Turkey Hunt.

In the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, she formed a task force to rebuild the childcare center lost in the disaster. Fallin also initiated Project Homesafe, a gun safety program that has distributed more than 80,000 free cable gun locks to Oklahomans.

U.S. House of Representatives (2007–2010)[link]

Elections[link]

Fallin did not seek re-election in 2006 as lieutenant governor, but ran for the 5th Congressional District seat being vacated by Ernest Istook, who ran for governor. In the July 25 GOP primary, she was the top vote-getter, receiving 35% of the vote.^[5] On August 22, 2006, she faced the second place finisher of the July primary Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett in the Republican candidate runoff election, and won with 63% of the vote.^[6]

Fallin was elected on November 7, defeating Democrat Paul David Hunter.^[7] She is the first woman elected to Congress from Oklahoma since 1921. Alice Mary Robertson was the first woman to be elected to U.S. Congress from Oklahoma. She resigned her office on January 2, 2007 in order to be sworn in to Congress on January 4, 2007. Lieutenant Governor-elect Jari Askins was appointed by Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry to fill the remaining days of Fallin's term.

Fallin easily won reelection in 2008. During her last term in Congress,

Committee assignments[link]

Fallin served on the House Committee on Armed Services, the House Committee on Small Business, and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. She also served on the Executive Committee of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Small Business Chair on the Republican Policy Committee and Vice Chairman of the Congressional Women’s Caucus.

2010 Gubernatorial campaign[link]

Incumbent Governor of Oklahoma Brad Henry was easily re-elected in 2006. In 2008, Republicans made gains in the state legislature and took control of both the Oklahoma House of Representatives and the Oklahoma Senate for the first time in Oklahoma history. Governor Henry was unable to seek reelection to a third consecutive four-year term, because of term limits placed on him by the Oklahoma Constitution.

By September, 2009, Fallin along with four other candidates had announced their intention to run for Governor to succeed Henry. Other than Fallin they were:

• Former President of the Oklahoma Office Machine Dealers Association (OOMDA) Roger L. Jackson (R)
• Attorney General of Oklahoma Drew Edmondson (D)
• Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma Jari Askins (D)
• State Senator Randy Brogdon (R)
• Oklahoma business owner Robert Hubbard (R)

Fallin won the Republican nomination with 136,460 votes and defeated her nearest challenger State Senator, Randy Brogdon who won 98,159 votes. Former Alaska Governor and 2008 Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin endorsed Fallin in the primary. On November 2, 2010, Fallin defeated Democratic nominee Jari Askins 60% to 39%. She is the first female governor of Oklahoma.

Governor of Oklahoma (2011-Present)[link]

Transition[link]

On election night, after it became apparent that Fallin had won the election, Commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety Kevin Ward dispatched Oklahoma Highway Patrol officers to begin providing security and protection to her. As the Governor-elect, the Oklahoma Office of State Finance made available to her transition funding and other government services. The Transition established GovernorelectMaryFallin.org as the official website of the Transition and established MaryFallinInuagural.org as the official website of Fallin's Inauguration.

Fallin began the transition on November 3 by holding a joint press conference with outgoing Governor Brad Henry.^[8] In the press conference, Governor Henry announced that he would make available to Fallin office space in the Oklahoma State Capitol for her to use as the headquarters for her transition team.

Fallin named Devon Energy Chairman and CEO J. Larry Nichols as the Chairman of her Transition Team. She also named (then) outgoing Oklahoma Senate President pro tempore Glenn Coffee (R-Tulsa) as the Transition's Co-Chairman. Fallin named Lieutenant Governor-elect Todd Lamb as her Administration's Small Business Advocate, a position Fallin herself once held under former Governor Frank Keating. She also established her Governor's Taskforce on Economic Development to advise her on matter related to the economy. Members of that TaskForce include BancFirst CEO David Rainbolt and former Walters Administration Secretary of Agriculture Gary Sherrer. Former Keating Administration Secretary of Energy Robert J. Sullivan, Jr. serves as the director of the Taskforce as the Special Advisor to the Governor on Economic Development.^[9]

First year[link]

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of the University Center in Ponca City, Oklahoma on July 12, 2011.

Fallin assumed office as Governor on January 10, 2011. Before the end of January, Fallin had named the four remaining Cabinet Secretaries in her Administration. She named the following:

• Gary Sherrer as Oklahoma Secretary of the Environment, a position he previously held under Democratic Governor David Walters
• Tulsa City Auditor Preston Doerflinger as Oklahoma Secretary of Finance and Revenue and Director of the Oklahoma Office of State Finance
• Oklahoma City businessman Dave Lopez as Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce and Tourism and Director of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce
• State Health Commissioner Terry Cline as Oklahoma Secretary of Health and Human Services

In late January, following a heated Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting, Governor Fallin proposed major changes to the Oklahoma State Department of Education's organization and structure. The controversy arose over the Board of Education rejecting three senior staff members of Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Janet Barresi. Under Fallin's proposed changes, the Board would be stripped of its administrative powers and those powers would be transferred solely to the State Superintendent, thus reducing the Board to more of an advisory committee to the Superintendent as opposed to a government body of the Department.^[10]

On February 7, Governor Fallin addressed the Oklahoma Legislature in her first State of the State Address. In her Address, Fallin called for streamlining and modernizing the State government, reforming education, and reducing health care costs in the State. She also presented her 2012 Oklahoma state budget spending request for considering by the Legislature. She proposed to make up the $400 million budget deficit through a combination of a 5% across-the-board agency budget cuts, increased tax enforcement, state agency consolidations, and government modernization to overcome the budget shortfall.

On July 14, 2011, Governor Fallin responded to a heat wave sweeping her state by asking citizens to seek divine intervention. "The power of prayer is a wonderful thing, and I would ask every Oklahoman to look to a greater power this weekend and ask for rain," Fallin said in a news release.^[11][12]

Personal life[link]

Divorce[link]

In early December 1998, an Oklahoma Highway Patrol bodyguard for Lt. Gov. Fallin resigned after admitting to unprofessional conduct. The Fallins had filed for divorce the previous week, amid allegations by her estranged husband that she had had an affair with a bodyguard.^[13][14]

Public Safety Commissioner Bob Ricks issued a statement saying that rumors had surfaced in early September about alleged unprofessional conduct between a member of the executive security detail and the lieutenant governor. According to Ricks, the trooper first denied the allegations, but, when questioned again in October, admitted to the improprieties. He was allowed to resign, but his admission did not say that any sexual activity was involved.^[15]

Family[link]

She has two children from her first marriage, Christina Fallin and Price Fallin. Her daughter Christina is a consultant and artist who lives in Oklahoma City.

Honors[link]

Fallin has been honored with numerous awards including Women in Communication’s Woman in the News Award, induction into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame, Clarence E. Page Award, induction into the Oklahoma Aviation Hall of Fame, 1998 Woman of the Year in Government and 1993 Legislator of the Year.

Election history[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Office of Governor Mary Fallin
• Biography at the National Governors Association
• Biography, interest group ratings, public statements, vetoes and campaign finances at Project Vote Smart
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Campaign contributions at FollowTheMoney.org
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at SourceWatch
• Mary Fallin Interview, Women of the Oklahoma Legislature Oral History Project, OOHRP

v t e Governors of Oklahoma Territorial (1890–1907) Steele Martin Seay Renfrow Barnes Jenkins Grimes Ferguson Frantz State (since 1907) Haskell Cruce Williams Robertson Walton Trapp Johnston Holloway W. Murray Marland Phillips Kerr Turner J. Murray Gary Edmondson Nigh Bellmon Bartlett Hall Boren Nigh Bellmon Walters Keating Henry Fallin Italics indicate acting governors

v t e Lieutenant Governors of Oklahoma Bellamy McAlester Trapp Holloway Burns Berry Williams Nigh Winters Nigh Bernard Kerr Mildren Fallin Askins Lamb

v t e Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oklahoma 1st district McGuire • Davenport • Chandler • Howard • Chandler • Howard • Montgomery • Howard • O'Connor • Disney • Schwabe • Gilmer • Schwabe • Belcher • Jones • Inhofe • Largent • Sullivan 2nd district Fulton • Morgan • Hastings • Robertson • Hastings • Nichols • Stigler • Edmondson • McSpadden • Risenhoover • Synar • Coburn • Carson • D. Boren 3rd district Davenport • Creager • Davenport • Carter • Cartwright • Stewart • Albert • Watkins • Brewster • Watkins • Lucas 4th district Carter • Murray • McKeown • Pringey • McKeown • Gassaway • L. Boren • G. Johnson • Steed • McCurdy • Watts • Cole 5th district Ferris • Thompson • Harreld • Swank • Stone • Swank • Lee • Hill • G. Smith • Monroney • Jarman • Edwards • Istook • Fallin • Lankford 6th district Ferris • Gensman • Thomas • Johnson, Sr. • Morris • Wickersham • Morris • Wickersham • Johnson, Jr. • J. Smith • Camp • English • Lucas 7th district McClintic • Massingale • Wickersham • Peden • Wickersham 8th district Morgan • Swindall • Herrick • Garber • Marland • Ferguson • Rizley • Wilson • Belcher At-large Murray • Thompson • Weaver • Rogers Territory Harvey • Flynn • Callahan • Flynn • McGuire

v t e Cabinet of Governor of Oklahoma Mary Fallin (2011-present)   Cabinet Secretary of State Glenn Coffee (2011-present) Secretary of Agriculture Jim Reese (2011-present) Secretary of Commerce and Tourism Dave Lopez (2011-present) Secretary of Education Phyllis Hudecki (2011-present) Secretary of Energy Mike Ming (2011-present) Secretary of the Environment Gary Sherrer (2011-present) Secretary of Finance and Revenue Preston Doerflinger (2011-present) Secretary of Health and Human Services Terry Cline (2011-present) Secretary of Human Resources and Administration Oscar B. Jackson Jr. (2011-2012) • Post Abolished Secretary of the Military Myles Deering (2011-present) Secretary of Safety and Security Michael C. Thompson (2011-present) Secretary of Science and Technology Stephen W. S. McKeever (2011-present) Secretary of Transportation Gary Ridley (2011-present) Secretary of Veterans Affairs Rita Aragon (2011-present)

v t e Current members of the Oklahoma Governor's Cabinet Governor Mary Fallin Lieutenant Governor Todd Lamb Aragon • Cline • Coffee • Deering • Doerflinger • Hudecki • Jackson • Lopez • McKeever • Ming • Reese • Ridley • Sherrer • Thompson

Mitt Romney
70th Governor of Massachusetts
In office January 2, 2003 – January 4, 2007
Lieutenant	Kerry Healey
Preceded by	Jane Swift (Acting)
Succeeded by	Deval Patrick
Personal details
Born	Willard Mitt Romney (1947-03-12) March 12, 1947 (age 65) Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Ann Romney (m. 1969) «start: (1969)»"Marriage: Ann Romney to Mitt Romney" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Mitt_Romney)
Children	Taggart (b. 1970) Matthew (b. 1971) Joshua (b. 1975) Benjamin (b. 1978) Craig (b. 1981)
Residence	Belmont, Massachusetts Wolfeboro, New Hampshire San Diego, California
Alma mater	Brigham Young University (BA) Harvard University (MBA, JD)
Religion	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)
Positions	Co-founder, Bain Capital (1984–1999) CEO, Bain & Company (1991–1992) CEO, 2002 Winter Olympics Organizing Committee (1999–2002)
Signature
Website	MittRomney.com

	This article is part of a series about Mitt Romney	Mitt Romney
2012 Presidential campaign 2008 Presidential campaign Governor of Massachusetts, 2003–2007 1994 U.S. Senate election Political positions · Electoral history Public image

Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for President of the United States in the 2012 election. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts (2003–07).

The son of Lenore and George W. Romney (Governor of Michigan, 1963–69), he was raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. In 1966, after one year at Stanford University, he left the United States to spend thirty months in France as a Mormon missionary. In 1969, he married Ann Davies, and the couple had five children together. In 1971, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Brigham Young University and, in 1975, a joint Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration from Harvard University as a Baker Scholar. He entered the management consulting industry, which in 1977, led to a position at Bain & Company. Later serving as Chief Executive Officer, he helped bring the company out of financial crisis. In 1984, he co-founded the spin-off Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm that became highly profitable and one of the largest such firms in the nation. His net worth is estimated at $190–250 million, wealth that has helped fund his political campaigns. Active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he served as Ward Bishop and later Stake President in his area near Boston. He ran as the Republican candidate in the 1994 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, losing to long-time incumbent Ted Kennedy. In 1999, he was hired as President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympics; and he helped turn the fiscally troubled games into a success.

He was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 2002 but did not seek re-election in 2006. During his term he presided over a series of spending cuts and increases in fees that eliminated a projected $1.5 billion deficit. He also signed into law the Massachusetts health care reform legislation, the first of its kind in the nation, which provided near-universal health insurance access via state-level subsidies and individual mandates.

Romney ran for the Republican nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, winning several primaries and caucuses but losing the nomination to John McCain. In the following years, he gave speeches and raised campaign funds on behalf of his fellow Republicans. In June 2011, he announced that he would seek the 2012 Republican presidential nomination; as of May 2012, he has won enough caucuses and primaries to become the party's presumptive nominee.

Early life and education[link]

Heritage and youth[link]

Willard Mitt Romney^[1] was born at Harper Hospital in Detroit, Michigan,^[2] the youngest child of George W. Romney, a self-made man who by 1948 had become an automobile executive, and Lenore Romney (née LaFount), an aspiring actress turned homemaker.^[3][4][5] His mother was a native of Logan, Utah, and his father was born in a Mormon colony in Chihuahua, Mexico, to American parents.^[6][7] He is of primarily English descent, and also has more distant Scottish and German ancestry.^[8][9][10] He is a fifth-generation member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).^[11][12] A great-great-grandfather, Miles Romney, converted to the faith in its first decade, and another great-great-grandfather, Parley P. Pratt, was an early leader in the church during the same time.^[13]

He was preceded in birth by three siblings: Margo Lynn, Jane LaFount, and G. Scott. Mitt followed after a gap of nearly six years. He was named after family friend, hotel magnate J. Willard Marriott, and his father's cousin Milton "Mitt" Romney, a former quarterback for the Chicago Bears.^{[14][nb 1]} In 1953, the family moved from Detroit to the affluent suburb of Bloomfield Hills.^[16] In 1954, his father became the chairmen and CEO of American Motors, a company he helped avoid bankruptcy, and return to profitability.^[16] By the time Mitt was twelve, his father had become a nationally known figure in print and on television,^[17] and Mitt idolized him.^[18]

Mitt Romney began attending Cranbrook School in the seventh grade.

He attended public elementary schools^[15] until the seventh grade, when he began commuting to Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, a traditional private boys' preparatory school where he was one of only a few Mormons and where many students came from backgrounds even more privileged than he.^[19][20] He was not particularly athletic and at first did not excel academically.^[18] During his sophomore year he participated in the 1962 campaign in which his father was elected Governor of Michigan.^{[nb 2]} When his parents moved to the state capitol as part of George Romney taking office, Mitt took up residence at Cranbrook's Stevens Hall.^[19] George Romney was re-elected twice; Mitt worked for him as an intern in the governor's office, and was present at the 1964 Republican National Convention when his moderate father battled conservative party nominee Barry Goldwater over issues of civil rights and ideological extremism.^[18][22] During these years, Romney had a steady set of chores and summer jobs, including working as a security guard at a Chrysler plant.^[23]

At Cranbrook he was a manager for the ice hockey team and a member of the pep squad,^[19] and during his final year joined the cross country running team.^[15] He belonged to eleven school organizations and school clubs, and started the Blue Key Club boosters group.^[19] During his final year at Cranbook, Romney improved academically, but was still not a star pupil.^[18][20] He won an award for those "whose contributions to school life are often not fully recognized through already existing channels".^[20] Romney was involved in many pranks.^{[nb 3]}

In March of his senior year, he began dating Ann Davies, two years his younger, whom he had first met in elementary school; she attended the private Kingswood School, the sister school to Cranbrook.^[27][20] The two informally agreed to marriage around the time of his June 1965 graduation.^[18]

University, France mission, marriage and children: 1965–1975[link]

Romney attended Stanford University for a year,^{[18][nb 4]} where he worked as a night security guard in order to pay for trips home to see Ann.^[28] Although the campus was becoming radicalized with the beginnings of 1960s social and political movements, he kept a well-groomed appearance and participated in pre-Big Game actions designed to protect the Stanford Axe.^[18] In May 1966, he was part of a counter-protest against a group staging a sit-in in the university administration building in opposition to draft status tests.^[18][29]

In July 1966, he left for a thirty-month stay in France as a Mormon missionary,^[18][31] a traditional rite of passage that his father and many other relatives had volunteered for.^{[nb 5]} He arrived in Le Havre with ideas about how to change and promote the French Mission, while facing physical and economic deprivation in their cramped quarters.^[33][13] Rules against drinking, smoking, and dating were strictly enforced.^[13] Most individual Mormon missionaries do not gain many converts,^[35] and Romney was no exception:^[33] he later estimated ten to twenty for his entire mission.^[36] The nominally Catholic but secular, wine-loving French people were especially resistant to a religion that prohibits alcohol.^[18][13][30] He became demoralized, and later recalled it as the only time when "most of what I was trying to do was rejected."^[33] In Nantes, he suffered a bruised jaw while defending two female missionaries who were being bothered by a group of local rugby players.^[13] He continued to work hard; having grown up in Michigan rather than the more insular Utah world, Romney was better able to interact with the French than other missionaries.^[37][13] He was promoted to zone leader in Bordeaux in early 1968, then in the spring of that year became assistant to the mission president in Paris, the highest position for a missionary.^[33][13][38] In the Mission Home in Paris he enjoyed palace-like accommodations.^[38] Romney's support for the U.S. role in the Vietnam War was only reinforced when the French greeted him with hostility over the matter and he debated them in return.^[13][33] He witnessed the May 1968 general strike and student uprisings and was upset by the breakdown in social order.^[39]

In June 1968, an automobile he was driving in southern France was hit by another vehicle, seriously injuring him and killing one of his passengers, the wife of the mission president.^{[nb 6]} Romney, who was not at fault in the accident,^{[nb 6]} became co-acting president of a mission demoralized and disorganized by the May civil disturbances and by the car accident.^[37] He rallied and motivated the others and they met an ambitious goal of 200 baptisms for the year, the most for the mission in a decade.^[37] By the end of his stint in December 1968, he was overseeing the work of 175 fellow members.^[33][40] Romney developed a lifelong affection for France and its people, and speaks French.^[42] The experience in the country instilled in him a belief that life is fragile and that he needed seriousness of purpose.^[18][37][13] It also represented a crucible, after having been an indifferent Mormon growing up: "On a mission, your faith in Jesus Christ either evaporates or it becomes much deeper ... For me it became much deeper."^[33]

While he was away, Ann Davies had converted to the Mormon faith, guided by George Romney, and had begun attending Brigham Young University (BYU).^[18] Mitt was nervous that she had been wooed by others while he was away, and she had indeed started dating popular campus figure Kim S. Cameron and had sent Romney in France a "Dear John letter", greatly upsetting him; he wrote to her to in an attempt to win her back.^[43][15] At their first meeting following Romney's return they reconnected, and decided to get married immediately but agreed to wait three months to appease their parents.^[44] At Ann's request, Romney began attending Brigham Young too, in February 1969.^{[43][nb 4]} The couple were married on March 21, 1969, in a civil ceremony at Ann's family's home in Bloomfield Hills that was presided over by a church elder.^[46][47][48] The following day, the couple flew to Utah for a wedding ceremony at the Salt Lake Temple.^[46][47]

While Mitt attended Harvard, his father George W. Romney (pictured here with Richard M. Nixon) served as United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Romney had missed much of the tumultuous American anti-Vietnam War movement while away, and was surprised to learn that his father had turned against the effort during his unsuccessful 1968 presidential campaign.^[33] Regarding the military draft, Romney had initially received a student deferment, then, like most Mormon missionaries, a ministerial deferment while in France, and then a student deferment.^[33][49] When those ran out, his high number in the December 1969 draft lottery (300) ensured he would not be selected.^[33][49][50]

At culturally conservative BYU, he remained isolated from much of the upheaval of the era, and did not join in protests against the war, or the LDS Church's policy at the time of denying full membership to blacks.^[24][33][43] He became president of, and an innovative fundraiser for, the all-male Cougar Club booster organization and showed a new-found discipline in his studies.^[33][43] In his senior year, he took leave to work as driver and advance man for his mother Lenore Romney's eventually unsuccessful 1970 campaign for U.S. Senator from Michigan.^[24][46] He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with highest honors in 1971,^[43] and gave commencement addresses to both the College of Humanities and to the whole of BYU.^{[nb 7]}

The Romneys' first son, Taggart, was born in 1970^[46] while they were undergraduates at Brigham Young^[52] and living in a basement apartment.^[33][43] Ann subsequently gave birth to Matt (1971), Josh (1975), Ben (1978), and Craig (1981).^[46] Her work as a homemaker would enable her husband to pursue his career.^[53]

Romney still wanted to pursue a business path, but his father, by now serving in President Richard Nixon's cabinet as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, advised him that a law degree would be valuable to his career.^[54][55] Thus he became one of only fifteen students to enroll at the recently created joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration four-year program coordinated between Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School.^[56] Fellow students considered him guilelessly optimistic, noting his solid work ethic and buttoned-down demeanor and appearance.^[56][57] He readily adapted to the business school's pragmatic, data-driven case study method of teaching, participated in class well, and led a study group whom he pushed to get all A's.^[55] He had a different social experience from most of his classmates, since he lived in a Belmont, Massachusetts, house with Ann and two children.^[46][55] He was non-ideological and did not involve himself in the political or social issues of the day.^[46][55] He graduated in 1975 cum laude from the law school, in the top third of that class, and was named a Baker Scholar for graduating in the top five percent of his business school class.^[51][56]

Business career[link]

Management consulting[link]

Romney was recruited by several firms and chose to remain in Massachusetts to work for Boston Consulting Group (BCG), reasoning that working as a management consultant to a variety of companies would better prepare him for a future position as a chief executive.^{[54][58][nb 8]} He was part of a 1970s wave of top graduates who chose to go into consulting rather than join a major company directly.^[60] His legal and business education proved useful in his job^[54] while he applied BCG principles such as the growth-share matrix.^[61] He was viewed as having a bright future there.^[54][62]

In 1977, he was hired away by Bain & Company, a management consulting firm in Boston that had been formed a few years earlier by Bill Bain and other former BCG employees.^[61][54][63] Bain would later say of the thirty-year-old Romney, "He had the appearance of confidence of a guy who was maybe ten years older."^[64] With Bain & Company, Romney learned what writers and business analysts have dubbed the "Bain way",^[54][63][65] which consisted of immersing the firm in each client's business,^[54][64] and not just issuing recommendations but staying with the company until changes were put into place.^[61][63][66] Romney became a vice president of the firm in 1978,^[15] and worked with clients such as the Monsanto Company, Outboard Marine Corporation, Burlington Industries, and Corning Incorporated.^[58] Within a few years, he was one of Bain & Company's best consultants and was sought after by clients over more senior partners.^[54][67]

Private equity[link]

Romney was restless for a company of his own to run, and in 1983, Bill Bain offered him the chance to head a new venture that would buy into companies, have them benefit from Bain techniques, and then reap higher rewards than consulting fees.^[54][61] He initially refrained from accepting the offer, and Bain re-arranged the terms in a complicated partnership structure so that there was no financial or professional risk to Romney.^[54][64][68] Thus, in 1984, Romney left Bain & Company to co-found the spin-off private equity investment firm, Bain Capital.^[66] In the face of skepticism from potential investors, Bain and Romney spent a year raising the $37 million in funds needed to start the new operation, which had fewer than ten employees.^[58][64][69] As general partner of the new firm, Romney spent little money on costs such as office appearance, and saw weak spots in so many potential deals that by 1986, few had been done.^[54] At first, Bain Capital focused on venture capital opportunities.^[54] Their first big success was a 1986 investment to help start Staples Inc., after founder Thomas G. Stemberg convinced Romney of the market size for office supplies and Romney convinced others; Bain Capital eventually reaped a nearly sevenfold return on its investment, and Romney sat on the Staples board of directors for over a decade.^[54][69][70]

Romney soon switched Bain Capital's focus from startups to the relatively new business of leveraged buyouts: buying existing firms with money mostly borrowed against their assets, partnering with existing management to apply the "Bain way" to their operations (rather than the hostile takeovers practiced in other leverage buyout scenarios), and selling them off in a few years.^[54][64] Existing CEOs were offered large equity stakes in the process, owing to Bain Capital's belief in the emerging agency theory that CEOs should be bound to maximizing shareholder value rather than other goals.^[70] Bain Capital lost most of its money in many of its early leveraged buyouts, but then started finding deals that made large returns.^[54] The firm invested in or acquired Accuride, Brookstone, Domino's Pizza, Sealy Corporation, Sports Authority, and Artisan Entertainment, as well as lesser-known companies in the industrial and medical sectors.^[54][64][71] He ran Bain Capital for fourteen years, during which time the firm's average annual internal rate of return on realized investments was 113 percent.^[58] Much of this profit was earned from a relatively small number of deals; Bain Capital's overall success–to–failure ratio was about even.^{[nb 9]}

Less an entrepreneur than an executive running an investment operation,^[67][72] Romney was skilled at presenting and selling the deals the company made.^[68] The firm initially gave a cut of its profits to Bain & Company, but Romney persuaded Bain to give that up.^[68] Within Bain Capital, Romney spread profits from deals widely within the firm to keep people motivated, often keeping less than ten percent for himself.^[73] Viewed as a fair manager, he received considerable loyalty from the firm's members.^[70] Romney's wary instincts were still in force at times, and he was generally data-driven and averse to risk.^[54][70] He wanted to drop a Bain Capital hedge fund that initially lost money, but other partners prevailed and it eventually gained billions.^[54] He also personally opted out of the Artisan Entertainment deal, not wanting to profit from a studio that produced R-rated films.^[54] Romney was on the board of directors of Damon Corporation, a medical testing company later found guilty of defrauding the government; Bain Capital tripled its investment before selling off the company, and the fraud was discovered by the new owners (Romney was never implicated).^[54] In some cases, Romney had little involvement with a company once acquired.^[69]

Bain Capital's leveraged buyouts sometimes led to layoffs, either soon after acquisition or later after the firm had left.^[61][68][69] How jobs added compared to those lost due to these investments and buyouts is unknown, due to a lack of records and Bain Capital's penchant for privacy on behalf of itself and its investors.^[74][75][76] In any case, maximizing the value of acquired companies and the return to Bain's investors, not job creation, was the firm's fundamental goal, as it was for most private equity operations.^[69][77] Bain Capital's acquisition of Ampad exemplified a deal where it profited handsomely from early payments and management fees, even though the subject company itself ended up going into bankruptcy.^[54][70][77] Dade Behring was another case where Bain Capital received an eightfold return on its investment, but the company itself was saddled with debt and laid off over a thousand employees before Bain Capital exited (the company subsequently went into bankruptcy, with more layoffs, before recovering and prospering).^[74] Bain was among the private equity firms that took the most fees in such cases.^[64][70]

In 1990, Romney was asked to return to Bain & Company, which was facing financial collapse.^[66] He was announced as its new CEO in January 1991^[78][79] but drew only a symbolic salary of one dollar.^[66] He managed an effort to restructure the firm's employee stock-ownership plan, real-estate deals and bank loans, while rallying the firm's thousand employees, imposing a new governing structure that included Bain and the other founding partners giving up control, and increasing fiscal transparency.^[54][58][66] Within about a year, he had led Bain & Company through a turnaround and returned the firm to profitability without further layoffs or partner defections.^[58] He turned Bain & Company over to new leadership and returned to Bain Capital in December 1992.^[54][79][80]

Romney took a leave of absence from Bain Capital in February 1999 to serve as the President and CEO of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee.^[54][81] By that time, Bain Capital was on its way to being one of the top private equity firms in the nation,^[68] having increased its number of partners from 5 to 18, with 115 employees overall, and $4 billion under its management.^[64][69] Bain Capital's approach of applying consulting expertise to the companies it invested in became widely copied within the private equity industry.^[25][69] Economist Steven Kaplan would later say, "[Romney] came up with a model that was very successful and very innovative and that now everybody uses."^[70]

Personal wealth[link]

In August 2001, Romney announced that he would not return to Bain Capital.^[81] He transferred his ownership to other partners and negotiated an agreement that allowed him to receive a passive profit share as a retired partner in some Bain Capital entities, including buyout and investment funds.^[73][82] Because the private equity business continued to thrive, this deal brought him millions of dollars in annual income.^[73] As a result of his business career, by 2007, Romney and his wife had a net worth of between $190 and $250 million, most of it held in blind trusts since 2003.^[82] In 2012, it was estimated that he had amassed twice the net worth of the last eight presidents combined,^[83] and would rank among the four richest in American history if elected.^[83][84]

An additional blind trust existed in the name of the Romneys' children and grandchildren that was valued at between $70 and $100 million as of 2007.^[85] The couple's net worth remained in the same range as of 2011, and was still held in blind trusts.^[86] In 2010, Romney and his wife received $21.7 million in income, almost all of it from investments, of which about $3 million went to federal income taxes (a rate of 13.9 percent, based upon the beneficial rate accorded investment income by the U.S. tax code) and almost $3 million to charity, including $1.5 million to the LDS Church.^[87] Romney has always tithed to the church, including stock from Bain Capital holdings.^[13][88][89] In 2010, the Romney family's Tyler Charitable Foundation gave out about $650,000, with some of it going to organizations that fight specific diseases such as cystic fibrosis and multiple sclerosis.^[90]

Local LDS Church leadership[link]

During his years in business, Romney also served in the local lay clergy (consisting of all Mormon men over the age of 12).^[13] Around 1977, he became a counselor to the president of the Boston Stake.^[91] He later served as bishop of the ward (leader of the congregation) at Belmont, Massachusetts, from 1981 to 1986, acting as the ecclesiastical and administrative head of his congregation.^[92][93] As such, in addition to home teaching, he also formulated Sunday services and classes using LDS scriptures to guide the congregation.^[94] He forged bonds with other religious institutions in the area when the Belmont meetinghouse was destroyed by a fire of suspicious origins in 1984; the congregation rotated its meetings to other houses of worship while it was rebuilt.^[88][93]

From 1986 to 1994, he presided over the Boston Stake, which included more than a dozen wards in eastern Massachusetts with about 4,000 church members altogether.^[67][94][95] He organized a team to handle financial and management issues, sought to counter anti-Mormon sentiments, and tried to solve social problems among poor Southeast Asian converts.^[88][93] An unpaid position, his local church leadership often took 30 or more hours a week of his time,^[94] and he became known for his tireless energy in the role.^[67] He generally refrained from overnight business travel owing to his church responsibilities.^[94]

He took a hands-on role in general matters, helping in maintenance efforts in- and outside homes, visiting the sick, and counseling troubled or burdened church members.^[92][93][94] A number of local church members later credited him with turning their lives around or helping them through difficult times.^[88][93][94] Some others were rankled by his leadership style and desired a more consensus-based approach.^[93] Romney tried to balance the conservative dogma insisted upon by the church leadership in Utah with the desire of some Massachusetts members to have a more flexible application of doctrine.^[67] He agreed with some modest requests from the liberal women's group Exponent II for changes in the way the church dealt with women, but clashed with women whom he felt were departing too much from doctrine.^[67] In particular, he counseled women not to have abortions except in the rare cases allowed by LDS doctrine, and also in accordance with doctrine, encouraged prospective mothers who were not in successful marriages to give up children for adoption.^[67] Romney later said that the years spent as an LDS minister gave him direct exposure to people struggling in economically difficult circumstances, and empathy for those going through problematic family situations.^[96]