Herman Cain

Herman Cain (born December 13, 1945) is an American author, business executive, syndicated columnist, radio host, and former lobbyist from Georgia. He was a 2011 candidate for the2012 U.S. Republican Party presidential nomination.

Cain grew up in Georgia and graduated from Morehouse College in 1967 with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics. Cain pursued graduate studies at Purdue University, and graduated with a Master of Science in computer science in 1971, while also working full-time for the U.S. Department of the Navy. In 1977, he joined Pillsbury Company. During the 1980s, his success as a business executive at Burger King prompted Pillsbury Company to appoint him as chairman and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza in which capacity he served from 1986 to 1996.

Cain was chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Omaha Branch from 1989 to 1991. He was deputy chairman, from 1992 to 1994, and chairman from 1995 to 1996, of theFederal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. In 1995, he was a member of the Ecomonic Growth and Tax Reform Commission, also known as the Kemp Commission. In 1996, he was a senior economic advisor to the Bob Dole presidential campaign.

Cain left Godfather’s Pizza and the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in 1996 moving to Washington, D.C. to become the CEO of the National Restaurant Association, in which he served as president and CEO from 1996 to 1999. As president-elect of the National Restaurant Association, he publicly opposed the Clinton health care plan of 1993. Cain has served as a member of the board of directors of several companies, including Aquila, Inc.,Nabisco, Whirlpool, Reader’s Digest, and AGCO.

In May of 2011, Cain announced his presidential candidacy. His advocacy on behalf of the 9–9–9 Plan, along with his debate performances, made him a front-runner during the fall of 2011. In November his campaign struggled to deal with allegations of sexual misconduct, which resulted in Cain suspending his campaign on December 3. The Pew Research Center reported that, of the Republican candidates, “Herman Cain was the most covered candidate in 2011.”