Speaker biography

The Honorable Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. is the forty-ninth governor of Indiana. He was elected on November 2, 2004, and sworn into office on January 10, 2005.

Prior to running for public office, Governor Daniels served in top leadership positions in business and government, including as president of Eli Lilly and Company’s North American pharmaceutical operations and as CEO of the Hudson Institute. Governor Daniels created the public-private Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), became chairman of its board, and ordered it to act at the speed of business, not the speed of government, to attract new jobs. During its first year, the IEDC closed more transactions than in the previous two years combined. In 2006, the IEDC topped its 2005 results in only ten months. Indiana became the only state in the nation to land three high-profile automotive investments. Governor Daniels’s focus on renewing Indiana’s agriculture sector and strengthening its rural communities have led Indiana to investments in biofuels and clean energy.

Governor Daniels has also been chief of staff to Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), senior advisor to President Ronald Reagan, and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush. Governor Daniels created Indiana’s first Office of Management and Budget to look for efficiencies and cost savings across state government. In 2005, he led the state to its first balanced budget in eight years without a tax increase. Governor Daniels used the budget surplus to repay hundreds of millions of dollars the state had borrowed from Indiana’s public schools under previous administrations.

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