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Meg Whitman

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Meg Whitman
Born
Margaret Cushing Whitman

(1956-08-04) August 4, 1956 (age 68)
Long Island, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)former President and CEO, eBay
Political partyRepublican
Children2

Margaret Cushing "Meg" Whitman (born August 4, 1956)[2] was President and Chief Executive Officer of eBay from March 1998 to March 2008, when she stepped down from her role. She was a director of the company from March 1998 until she resigned at the end of 2008[3]. In 2006 Whitman endorsed Governor Mitt Romney for President and served on his campaign. Whitman later endorsed Senator John McCain after Romney did. On February 9, 2009 Whitman announced her candidacy for Governor of California. The election will take place November 2010. Whitman supports abortion rights and is considered a centrist Republican.[citation needed]

Background and education

Whitman was born on Long Island, New York, the daughter of Hendricks Hallett Whitman and Margaret (Goodhue) Whitman.[4][5] Whitman attended Cold Spring Harbor High School in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. She earned a Bachelor of Economics from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1979.[6]

Career

Whitman joined eBay when there were only 30 employees. [7] Before eBay, Ms. Whitman was with toymaker Hasbro, overseeing global management and marketing of two of the world's best-known children's brands, Playskool and Mr. Potato Head. In previous years, she held executive positions at the Stride Rite Corporation and at the Walt Disney Company. Meg also worked for eight years at Bain & Company's San Francisco office, where she was a vice president. She began her career in 1979 at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ms. Whitman also serves on the boards of the eBay Foundation, Procter & Gamble and DreamWorks Animation. [6]

Whitman has donated more than $30 million to her alma mater, Princeton University. The donation has allowed the construction of the university's sixth residential college, Whitman College, which opened in Fall 2007.[8][9] Whitman also supported California's Proposition 8 in 2008.

Political activities

Whitman has made numerous political donations to various candidates and PACs. While these have gone to both Republican and Democratic beneficiaries, the donations seem to be weighted to Republican politicians such as Orrin Hatch, John McCain, Mitt Romney and George Allen. [10]

Whitman was a supporter of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's presidential campaign [11][12] in 2008 and was on his "National Finance Team".[13] She was also listed as Finance co-chair of Romney's campaign exploratory committee. [14] However, after Romney stepped out of the race, and endorsed McCain, Whitman joined John McCain's presidential campaign as a national co-chair. [15]

At the 2008 Republican National Convention, Whitman gave a speech about what presumptive presidential nominee McCain would do in his first one hundred days in office if elected President of the United States.

McCain mentioned Whitman as a possible Secretary of the Treasury during the second debate in 2008.[16]

On February 9, 2009, Whitman announced she would run for California governor in the 2010 election.[17]

Prop. 8 Support

Whitman endorsed California Proposition 8, which amended the state Constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to opposite-sex couples. [18]

References

  1. ^ Forbes
  2. ^ Mark Bigault (2007-06-05). "Meg Whitman" (HTML). Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  3. ^ Carol Wolf & Beth Jinks (2009-01-05). "Meg Whitman Leaves EBay, P&G, DreamWorks Boards" (HTML). Retrieved 2009-01-05.
  4. ^ Meg Whitman to Wed June 7 - Free Preview - The New York Times
  5. ^ "Hendricks H. Whitman, Executive, 70". New York Times. February 23, 1991. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
  6. ^ a b Meg Whitman Business Biography
  7. ^ http://valleywag.com/5060675/ebay-founder-factchecks-john-mccain
  8. ^ Meg Whitman at Bizography.com
  9. ^ Brush, Silla (2008-01-23). "Whitman '77 makes $30 million donation". The Daily Princetonian. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
  10. ^ Meg Whitman at newsmeat.com
  11. ^ Governor Mitt Romney Announces First Group of National Finance Co-Chairs
  12. ^ MTP transcript for Oct. 21, 2007 - Meet the Press, online at MSNBC - MSNBC.com
  13. ^ Romney Reaps $20 Million to Top G.O.P. Rivals - New York Times
  14. ^ Election Center 2008: Candidates - Election & Politics News from CNN.com
  15. ^ John McCain 2008 - John McCain for President
  16. ^ Reuters (2008). McCain, Obama discuss possible Treasury secretary picks. Retrieved October 8, 2008.
  17. ^ http://www.latimes.com/la-me-meg-whitman10-2009feb10,0,306770.story
  18. ^ http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-whitman11-2009feb11,0,5416436.story
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