Dean Bosacki

Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft is an independent director of ACADEMI and the Chairman of the Ashcroft Group, and has been leading Americans for over 30 years in public and private service. In 2005, Mr. Ashcroft established the Ashcroft Group, LLC to help domestic and international corporations apply the leadership principles, sound judgment, and high goals he embraced during his more than three decades of public service to the business world. As Attorney General, Mr. Ashcroft led the U.S. Department of Justice through the transformational period that followed the September 11, 2001 attacks, reorganizing the Department to focus on its number one priority: preventing terrorism. The tough antiterrorism campaign he directed helped keep America safe throughout his tenure and resulted in the dismantling of terrorist cells across America and the disruption of over 150 terrorist plots worldwide. From 1985 to 1993, as Governor of Missouri, Ashcroft balanced eight consecutive budgets, built a $120 million budget surplus, and established a $190 million operating reserve. His management and fiscal integrity helped generate 338,000 new jobs state-wide; a triple-A bond rating from the three major Wall Street rating agencies; a per capita state and local tax burden ranked 49th in the United States; and a 12 percent increase in personal income. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994, he brought his management skills to Washington where he authored budget rules protecting Social Security and Medicare and helped balance the federal budget for the first time in decades. He was raised in Springfield, Missouri, received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his J.D. from the University of Chicago.