Wes Moore

Westley Watende Omari Moore (born October 15, 1978) is an American politician, investment banker, author, and television producer. He is the governor-elect of Maryland, after defeating Republican Dan Cox in the 2022 Maryland gubernatorial election, and is set to become the first Black governor of the state and the third Black person elected as governor of a U.S. state.

Born in Maryland and raised largely in New York, Moore graduated from Johns Hopkins University and received a master's degree from Wolfson College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. After several years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve, Moore became an investment banker in New York. Between 2010 and 2015, Moore published five books, including one young adult novel. Moore served as CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation from 2017 to 2021. Moore is the author of ''The Other Wes Moore'' and ''The Work.'' He was also the host of ''Beyond Belief'' on the Oprah Winfrey Network, as well as the executive producer and a writer for ''Coming Back with Wes Moore'' on PBS.

Early life and education

Moore was born in Takoma Park, Maryland, to father William Westley Moore Jr., a broadcast news journalist, and mother Joy Thomas Moore, a daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and a media professional.

On April 16, 1982, when Moore was nearly four years old, his father died from acute epiglottitis. In the summer of 1984, Moore's mother took him and his two sisters to live in the Bronx, New York, with their grandparents. His grandfather, Rev. Dr. James Thomas, a Jamaican immigrant, was the first Black minister in the history of the Dutch Reformed Church. His grandmother, Winell Thomas, a Cuban who moved to Jamaica before immigrating to the United States, was a retired school teacher. Moore attended Riverdale Country School. When Moore's grades declined and he became involved in petty crime, his mother enrolled him in Valley Forge Military Academy and College.

In 1998, Moore graduated Phi Theta Kappa from Valley Forge with an associate degree, completed the requirements for the United States Army's early commissioning program, and was appointed a second lieutenant of Military Intelligence in the Army Reserve. He then went on to attend Johns Hopkins University where he studied international relations and economics and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa in 2001. While at Hopkins, Moore played as wide receiver for the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays football team for two seasons. He was initiated into the Sigma Sigma Chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity at Johns Hopkins in 2000. In 1998 and 1999, Moore interned for Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke. He later became involved with the March of Dimes before serving in the Army. He also interned at the United States Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Tom Ridge. After graduating, he attended Wolfson College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, where he earned a master's degree in international relations in 2004 and submitted a thesis entitled, ''Rise and Ramifications of Radical Islam in the Western Hemisphere''. He was activated in the Army following the September 11 attacks, and was deployed to Afghanistan from 2005 to 2006, attaining the rank of captain in the 82nd Airborne Division. He retired from the Army in 2014.

Career

In February 2006, Moore was named a White House Fellow to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Moore later worked as an investment banker at Deutsche Bank in Manhattan and at Citibank from 2007 to 2012 while living in Jersey City, New Jersey

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