Robert F. "Bob" White (born 1956) is an American financier and business executive from

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. White is known for his friendship and long professional relationship with American politician

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

Early life and education

Born in 1956, White attended Woburn High School. A first-generation college student, White attended

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. It was chartered in 1794. The main Bowdoin campus is located near Casco Bay and the Androscoggin River. In a ...

with the help of financial aid. White graduated from Bowdoin in 1977.

Biography

A friend of

since the 1980s, White helped manage

Bain Capital Bain Capital, LP is an American Investment company, private investment firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, with around $185 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, p ...

at the

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

firm's founding in April 1983. White took a leave of absence from the firm in 1994 to manage Romney's unsuccessful 1994 U.S. Senate campaign. White aided Romney with planning and administering the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

. After Romney was elected

Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The governor is the chief executive, head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonw ...

in the 2002 election, White chaired the subsequent gubernatorial transition team. During the 2008 presidential election, White chaired Romney's presidential campaign. During this period, White was quoted by the ''Washington Post'' as having said “I’m on my fifth ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ with Mitt.” During the

2012 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

, White served as an informal advisor to Romney's presidential campaign. In the run-up to the 2012 election, ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

'' speculated that White would likely be given a "broad strategic role" within a potential Romney administration.

Personal life

A former

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player, White has been noted for having a

Boston accent A Boston accent is a local accent of Eastern New England English, native specifically to the city of Boston and its suburbs. Northeastern New England English is classified as traditionally including New Hampshire, Maine, and all of eastern Mass ...

References

External links

2012 Republican National Convention speechvideo
1956 births Bowdoin College alumni Harvard Business School alumni Living people Massachusetts Republicans Mitt Romney People from Weston, Massachusetts Bain Capital people {{US-business-bio-1950s-stub