Tagg Romney

Tagg Romney
Romney in January 2012
Born
Taggart Mitt Romney

(1970-03-21) March 21, 1970 (age 54)
Provo, Utah, U.S.
Education
Occupations
Political partyRepublican
SpouseJennifer Romney
Children6
Parents
FamilyRomney

Taggart Mitt Romney (born March 21, 1970) is an American management consultant, businessman, venture capitalist and political advisor. He is the eldest son of businessman and U.S. Senator Mitt Romney.[1]

Early life and education

Taggart Romney is the oldest son of Ann and Mitt Romney, born when both were undergraduates at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Tagg's birthplace of Provo, Utah.[1] He attended Belmont Hill School, a preparatory academy before he graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in economics from BYU and earned an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.[1][2][3]

Career

Romney has worked as the head of marketing for the Los Angeles Dodgers,[1] VP of onfield marketing at Reebok, and director of strategic planning at Elan Pharmaceuticals. Romney founded and subsequently sold Season Perks,[2] a software design company. He also worked for several years as a consultant at both Monitor Group and McKinsey and Co.[2] Romney has been a partner in the private equity firm Solamere Capital, together with family friend Spencer Zwick, and Eric Scheuermann, previously a partner in New York-based Jupiter Partners.[4][5] Zwick was also finance chair of the 2012 campaign.[6] Romney worked as a senior aide on his father's presidential campaign in 2008 and during his Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign in 2002.[7] He participated as an advisor in his father's 2012 presidential campaign and he attracted the attention of the media just prior to the November election.[8]

In June 2014, Solamere[9] sponsored the third annual "Romney Retreat" at the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah. Most potential 2016 Republican Party Presidential candidates, Peyton Manning, firm clients, former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, and Mia Love, among others, along with Mitt Romney, spoke or were in attendance[6] at the three-day event. Other scheduled attendees included business executives Meg Whitman and Harold Hamm.[9]

He was the subject of speculation in February 2013 that he would run for the United States Senate from Massachusetts in the 2014 election. He declined to do so, saying that "the timing is not right for me."[10][11]

2012 presidential election

After the second presidential debate, a North Carolina radio station interviewed Romney and asked him what it was like "to hear the president of the United States call your dad a liar."[12] Romney laughed and replied: "Jump out of your seat and you want to rush down to the stage and take a swing at him. But you know you can't do that because, well, first because there's a lot of Secret Service between you and him, but also because that's the nature of the process. They're gonna try to do everything they can do to try to make my dad into someone he's not. We signed up for it, we've gotta try to kind of sit there and take our punches, and then send them right back the other way."[12][13] A campaign aide told ABC News that the remarks about taking a swing at the president were "all in jest".[14][15]

HIG Capital, an investment partner of Romney's company, Solamere, supplied voting machines in the state of Ohio, which caused concern prior to the November elections.[16] A spokesperson for Solamere later commented on the matter, saying, "Not only does Solamere have no direct or indirect interest in this company Hart InterCivic, Solamere and its partners have no ownership in this company, nor do they have any ownership in nor have made any investments in the fund that invested in the voting machine company."[17]

In 2012, National Journal named Romney one of ten Republicans to follow on Twitter.[18] Romney stated in 2012 that he was uninterested in pursuing a political career in his own right.[19]

Post-2012 election

In 2015, Romney stated he was both "sad and relieved" at his father's decision to not run in the 2016 Republican Party presidential primary.[20]

Personal life

Romney and his wife, Jennifer, have six children,[21][22] three via surrogate mothers.[23][24] The family resides in Belmont, Massachusetts.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Hewitt, Hugh (2007). A Mormon in the White House?: 10 Things Every American Should Know About Mitt Romney. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing. pp. 81–82. ISBN 978-1-59698-502-5.
  2. ^ a b c d "For Tagg Romney, politics is a family affair". The Conway Daily Sun. North Conway, New Hampshire: Country News Club. September 28, 2012. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  3. ^ Scheiber, Noam (October 19, 2012). "Growing Up Romney". The New Republic. Boston, Massachusetts: Emerson Collective. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  4. ^ Slack, Donovan (October 7, 2011). "Romney aide trades on political ties". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts: Boston Globe Partners, L.P.
  5. ^ Luo, Michael; Creswell, Julie (April 30, 2012). "Ties to Romney '08 Helped Fuel an Equity Firm". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
  6. ^ a b Confessore, Nicholas (June 14, 2014). "At Romney Retreat, Top Republicans Search for New Leadership and Focus". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  7. ^ Swick, Donovan (October 7, 2011). "Romney aide trades on political ties". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts: Boston Globe Partners, L.P.
  8. ^ Horowitz, Jason (October 12, 2012). "Tagg Romney is suddenly a center of attention in his father's campaign". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: Nash Holdings. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  9. ^ a b Costa, Robert (April 20, 2014). "Inside the Romney retreat". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: Nash Holdings. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  10. ^ "The Next Generation of Romneys Running for Office?". Patheos. February 4, 2013. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
  11. ^ Trinko, Katrina (February 4, 2013). "Tagg's Not It". National Review Online. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
  12. ^ a b Coppins, McKay (October 17, 2012). "Romney Son Wanted To "Take A Swing" At Obama During Debate". Buzzfeed Politics. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  13. ^ Lee, Kristen (October 18, 2012). "Tagg Romney says he wanted to 'take a swing' at Obama during the debate". The New York Daily News. New York City: Tribune Publishing. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  14. ^ Friedman, Emily (October 18, 2012). "Tagg Romney Jests That he Wants to 'Take a Swing' at President". ABC News. New York City: ABC. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  15. ^ Reilly, Mollie (October 18, 2012). "Tagg Romney Jokes About Taking A 'Swing' At Obama After Heated Debate". Huffington Post. New York City. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  16. ^ Ungar, Rick (October 20, 2012). "Romney Family Investment Ties To Voting Machine Company That Could Decide The Election Causing Concern". Forbes. New York City. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  17. ^ Warren, Michael (October 12, 2012). "Tagg Romney Is Not an 'Investor In a Voting Machine Company'". The Weekly Standard. Washington, D.C.: Clarity Media Group. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  18. ^ Mazmanian, Adam (August 27, 2012). "Ten Republicans to follow on Twitter". National Journal. Washington, D.C.: Atlantic Media. Retrieved November 20, 2015 – via Yahoo! News.
  19. ^ Stolberg, Sheryl Gay; Parker, Ashley (October 26, 2012). "Following in a Father's Footsteps, But Probably Not Into Politics". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  20. ^ Borger, Gloria (January 30, 2015). "Tagg Romney: I'm both 'sad and relieved' at dad's decision | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  21. ^ Katz, Celeste (October 9, 2012). "Dedicated To Dad's Hopes, Tagg Romney Storms The Campaign Trail -- Again". New York Daily News. New York City: Tribune Publishing. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
  22. ^ Gutiérrez, Bertrand (October 18, 2012). "Tagg Romney stumps for his dad at Wake Forest University". Winston-Salem Journal. Winston-Salem, North Carolina: Lee Enterprises. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
  23. ^ "Tagg Romney has children via surrogate mother". Center for Surrogate Parenting. Archived from the original on October 27, 2012. Retrieved October 12, 2012.
  24. ^ Walshe, Shushannah (May 10, 2012). "Meet Ann Romney's Five Sons". ABC News. New York City: ABC. Retrieved October 21, 2012.

Further reading