Meg Whitman
Margaret Cushing "Meg" Whitman (b. August 4, 1956) is a Republican politician and a former candidate for the Governor of California in the 2010 elections. Whitman is the former president and CEO of eBay, where she guided the growth from a starting point of about 30 employees and revenues of about $4 million to approximately 15,000 employees and over $8 billion in annual revenue.
On December 8, 2021, President Joe Biden (D) nominated Whitman to serve as U.S. ambassador to Kenya.
Biography
Long Island born and raised, Meg Whitman was introduced to California at age six, on a three month camping trip through the West with her mother, brother, and sister.
She stayed on the east coast to finished school at Princeton and later Harvard.
Fresh out of Harvard's Business School Whitman went to work for Proctor and Gamble in Cincinnati. Soon after, she moved to California with her husband, Griffith Rutherford Harsh, IV, who had accepted a residency in neurosurgery at Stanford. Once in California, Meg joined Bain & Co's San Francisco office. She would go on to work for Disney, Stride Rite, FTD and Hasbro. By the fall of 1997, her path crossed with the founders of eBay, at the time still a start-up. The next decade saw eBay vault into the stratosphere and led to Whitman having the fortune and name recognition to finance her quest for California's governorship.
In 2008, she chaired the National Finance Committee for Mitt Romney's Presidential bid. She and Romney have been close friends since her days at Bain. After Romney left the race, Whitman joined McCain's campaign as a co-chair for fundraising as a policy adviser.
At various times, Meg Whitman has sat on the boards of the eBay Foundation, Procter & Gamble, DreamWorks SKG, and Goldman Sachs. Along with her husband, at the end of 2006 she founded the Griffith R. Harsh IV and Margaret C Whitman Charitable Foundation. The initial donation was 300,000 eBay stocks, worth $9.4 million at the time. The Foundation has since grown to have assets approaching $50 million.
Since 1998, she and Griff have lived in Atherton, California. Dr. Harsh remained at Stnaford Medical Center after completing his residency. They have two sons, Griff and Will, both of whom attended Princeton.
Education
- Harvard Business School, M.B.A., 1979
- Princeton University, B.A., cum laude, 1977
- Cold Spring Harbor High School
Elections
2016 presidential endorsement
✓ Whitman endorsed Hillary Clinton for the 2016 presidential general election.[1]
- See also: Endorsements for Hillary Clinton
2010
Whitman lost in the general election to Jerry Brown.[2]
| 2010 Race for Governor - General Election | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote Percentage | |
| Democratic Party |  Jerry Brown
|
53.44% | |
| Republican Party | Meg Whitman | 40.63% | |
| American Independent Party | Chelene Nightengale | 1.64% | |
| Libertarian Party | Dale Ogden | 1.49% | |
| Green Party | Laura Wells | 1.89% | |
| Peace and Freedom Party | Carlos Alvarez | 0.91% | |
| write-in | Hugh Bagley | >0.01% | |
| write-in | Rakesh Kumar Christian | >0.01% | |
| Total Votes | 10,158,139 | ||
See also
External links
- Biography from Project Vote Smart
- Meg Whitman on Facebook
- Meg Whitman on Twitter
- Meg Whitman on YouTube
- Meg Whitman on Flickr
Footnotes
