Jeb Bush

John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953), a Republican, is the forty-third and current Governor of Florida. He is a prominent member of the Bush family, the younger brother of President George W. Bush and the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush.

Early years

Jeb Bush was born in Midland, Texas, where his father was running an oil drilling company. He has been known by his initials "JEB" since childhood.

When Bush was six years old, the family moved to Houston, Texas. He was a childhood athlete, enjoying baseball and tennis. He went to a public elementary school, but later transferred to a private school. When he was in eighth grade, his father won a seat in Congress and moved to Washington, DC. Bush stayed in Houston with another family to finish the school year, and spent most summers and holidays at the family estate, known as the Bush Compound.

He then enrolled at Phillips Andover, a private boarding school in Massachusetts already attended by his brother George. Bush made the honor roll in his first semester. He has described himself in his time there as "a cynical little turd in a cynical little school". Friends recall him as disciplined and focused, neither drinking nor gambling during a trip to Las Vegas. He did, however, enjoy an Elvis Presley concert.[1]

When Bush was seventeen, he went to León, Mexico, as part of his school's student exchange program. He spent his time there teaching English. While attending a motorcycle race, he met a local girl named Columba Garnica Gallo, whom he eventually married. Bush then converted to Catholicism.

Bush attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor's degree in Latin American Studies in 1973, taking only two and a half years to complete his work, and obtaining generally excellent grades. He registered for the draft, but the Vietnam War ended before his number came up.

After his early graduation, Bush married the first and only woman he had ever dated, Columba Garnica Gallo, on February 23, 1974. Their three children, now grown, are George P. (recently married), John E. "Jeb" Bush Jr. and Noelle.

Business experience in Texas and abroad

After earning his degree, Bush went to work in an entry level position in the international division of Texas Commerce Bank, which was run by Ben Love. Love hired the new college graduate for his office, where Bush assisted in drafting much of Love's communications.
In November 1977 he was sent to the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, in South America, to open a new operation for the bank. Bush moved his family to the foreign city and spent about two years there, working in international finance. In so doing, he earned his way into the executive program at the bank.

Bush attracted a lot of new business to the bank as a result of his effective networking in Venezuela while maintaining credit quality in an emerging market.

Bush returned to the United States to work without salary on his father's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 1980, explaining:

"I wasn't motivated for politics, I wasn't motivated because of ideology or anything. My dad's the greatest man I've ever met or will meet; I can predict that fairly confidently. It was payback time, simple as that."
His father ultimately lost the Republican nomination for President that year, but Ronald Reagan chose George H. W. Bush to be his running mate. Bush's father was soon elected in that year the Vice President of the United States, and won reelection in 1984. In 1988, George H.W. Bush won the Republican Party's presidential nomination, and the election, becoming the nation's 41st president.

Business experience in Miami, Florida

Following the 1980 presidential election, Bush and his family moved to Miami-Dade County, Florida. He took a job in real estate with Armando Codina, a 32-year-old Cuban immigrant and self-made American millionaire. Codina had made a fortune in a computer business, and then formed a new company, IntrAmerica Investments Inc., to pursue opportunities in real estate.

In 1981, his first year with Codina's new real estate venture, Bush earned $41,508. He soon became a valuable real estate salesman for Codina and helped Codina build a very successful property business in Florida.

During Bush's years in Miami, he was involved in many different entrepreneurial pursuits, including working for a mobile phone company, serving on the board of a Norwegian-owned company that sold fire equipment to the Alaska oil pipeline, becoming a minority owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, buying a shoe company that sold footwear in Panama, and getting involved in a questionable scheme to sell water pumps in Nigeria.

Because of Bush's effectiveness in Cordina's property business, Codina eventually agreed to take him on as a partner in a new development business. It quickly became one of South Florida's leading real estate development firms. As a partner, Bush received a 40% of the firm's profits.

In June 1993, Bush sold his share of the company he and Codina had built for over one million dollars to pursue public service.

Personal transformation

In addition to his business, civic and charitable activities, Bush underwent a religious conversion during his early career years. At the urging of his wife, Columba, a devout Mexican Catholic, the Protestant Bush became a Roman Catholic. He and his wife belonged to the Epiphany Catholic Church in Miami for many years. Bush is also a Third Degree Knight of Columbus according to an August 3, 2004 speech his brother President George W. Bush made at the 122nd Knights of Columbus Convention in Dallas. The following is an excerpt from the speech:

"I'm proud to say that my family has contributed to your ranks. A few years ago, Governor Jeb became a Knight. And he-yes-and he recently took his Third Degree. I'll see him this weekend. His son is getting married. I'll pass on the word, aim for the Fourth."
Rather than fade into the annals of political history after his 1994 defeat for the governorship at the age of 41, Bush then refocused and worked hard to re-establish himself. This self-described cynic's religious conversion and substantial civic involvement added different dimensions to his business background. Four years down the road, at 45 years of age, a new Jeb Bush emerged, and in 1998 became Governor of Florida.

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