Mitt Romney

MITT ROMNEY was born on March 12, 1947. He received his bachelor's degree with highest honors from Brigham Young University in 1971. In 1975 he earned a master’s in business administration from Harvard Business School and was named a Baker Scholar. In 1975 he also received his law degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School. From 1978 to 1984, he was a vice president of Bain and Company, Inc., a Boston-based management consulting firm. In 1984, he founded Bain Capital, an investment company that founded, acquired, or invested in hundreds of companies, including Staples, Domino's Pizza, and Brookstone. In 1990, Romney took a two-year leave of absence to return to Bain and Company as its interim-CEO during a period of financial turmoil. While there, he led the company's highly successful turnaround. With the 2002 Winter Olympics mired in controversy and facing serious financial crisis, Romney was asked to become President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. During the three years he ran the games, Romney succeeded in erasing a $379 million operating deficit, organizing 23,000 volunteers, galvanizing community spirit, overseeing an unprecedented security mobilization to ensure public safety, and leading one of the most successful Olympics in the nation's history. He was elected governor of Massachusetts in November 2002. Romney was recently appointed by President George W. Bush to the Homeland Security Advisory Committee and was the National Governors Association’s co-lead governor for homeland security. He was also a member of the Executive Committee and the Education, Early Childhood, and Workforce Committee of the National Governors Association.