Mitch Daniels is the 49th Governor of the State of Indiana and the author of the best-selling book, “Keeping the Republic: Saving America by Trusting Americans.” Although he had served as Chief of Staff to Senator Richard Lugar, Senior Advisor to President Ronald Reagan and Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush, his approach was molded in the private sector.
Before his service to Indiana, he had a successful career in business, holding numerous top management positions. And his work as CEO of the Hudson Institute and President of Eli Lilly and Company's North American Pharmaceutical Operations taught him the business skills he brought to state government.
And with those skills he led Indiana to its first balanced budget in eight years and, without a tax increase, transformed a $700 million deficit into an annual surplus of $370 million. He also repaid millions of dollars the state had borrowed from its public schools, universities and local units of government in previous administrations, while presiding over record-breaking investment and job growth. Today, Indiana has a AAA credit rating (the first in state history) and ranks near the top of every national ranking of business attractiveness.
His other groundbreaking accomplishments include the 2006 lease of the Indiana Toll Road, the largest privatization of public infrastructure in the United States to date, generating nearly $4 billion for reinvestment in the state’s record breaking 10-year transportation and infrastructure program; the creation of the Healthy Indiana Plan to provide healthcare coverage for uninsured Hoosier adults; a sweeping property tax reform in 2008 resulted in the biggest tax cut in Indiana history; and an emphasis on government efficiency that has led to many state agencies, including the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Department of Child Services, and Department of Correction winning national performance awards. Indiana now has the fewest state employees per capita in the nation, and the fewest the state has had since 1975.
He was re-elected in 2008 to a second and final term, receiving more votes than any candidate for public office in the state’s history. Unsurprisingly, his second term has been as innovative as his first. In fact, earlier this year, under his guidance Indiana passed the most expansive education reforms in the country. In 2012 Indiana became the first industrial northern state to adopt a Right to Work law.
His tenure as Indiana's governor comes to an end in January 2013, when he begins the next chapter in his career as the 12th president of Purdue University.