Amway Guy resume

by: matt

Sat Oct 28, 2006 at 13:39:34 PM EDT

RESUME

RICHARD MARVIN "DICK" DEVOS, JR.

POSITION DESIRED:  GOVERNOR, STATE OF MICHIGAN

EDUCATION: HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE (1973)

Grand Rapids Forest Hills

2nd string Quarterback of football team (Quit in senior year- team was reportedly progressing faster than him)

(More below the fold...)

Calvin College (1973) Quit after one semester (college not for him)

Northwood Institute, Midland , MI (1981) Received business degree.

Attended night classes Harvard Business School . Quit without completing program

Wharton Executive Study Program.  Quit without completing program

EMPLOYMENT:

1974-1989 AMWAY CORPORATION, Ada, MI  Company involved with the sale and distribution of household products. Founded and managed  by his father Richard DeVos, Sr. and his partner Jay Van Andel in 1959.  Some refer to company as pyramid scheme where average distributor makes $124 per month. Held various positions with company rising to VP of International Operations.  Quit to start own company.

1989-1992 Founder and CEO of  Windquest Group. Closet organizer and storage container business (less pressure). Quit to return to Amway.

1991-1993 President of Orlando Magic, professional basketball team.  Father purchased team in 1991.  Quit to return to Amway

1993-2002 AMWAY CEO.  Managed business to its greatest losses in history then downsized number of Michigan employees from 5,300 to 3,900.  Invested $200 Million in China .  Now Company is 80% Asian company.  Quit to return to Windquest and pursue other interests.

PUBLIC SERVICE: 

1990 elected to 8 year term to State Board of Education.  Quit after two years, missing ¼ of all meeting (the most of any Board member)

1996 appointed by Governor Engler to Board of Control, Grand Valley State University. Quit before term expired; last meeting attended July, 2000. (missed 16 of 27 meetings)

2000 spearheaded Michigan ballot proposal to use public school funds for vouchers for private/charter schools.  Personally spent millions to finance campaign.  Measure was soundly defeated by 69% of votes cast.

CHARITBLE GIVING:

His wife and their foundation have generously given tens of millions of dollars to virtually every Republican, conservative and far-right group/cause.  His family was the largest contributors to President Bush in 2000 and 2004.  Wife Betsy has said they expect a return for their giving.

FAMILY:

Married Wife Betsy DeVos in 1979.  Formerly Betsy Prince, heir to the Prince auto parts fortune.  Betsy was Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman and finance chairwoman of National Republican Party Senatorial Committee. They have four adult children.

HOBBIES/INTERESTS: 

Licensed pilot (Amway owns 14 aircraft, 10 of which are jets); Yachting (owns 41st largest yacht in USA ); Accumulating great wealth (personal fortune estimated at $500 Million dollars, but won't release tax returns); Spending fortune on political interests (has spent more than $30 million of his own money in campaign for Governor.

POLICY POSITIONS:

Opposes abortion under any circumstances, other than to save life of the mother.  Even in cases of rape or incest.

Does not support law to ban smoking in restaurants and bars. Says Michigan citizens should have the right to CHOOSE

Opposes embryonic stem cell research even if existing and unused stem cells are discarded or thrown in trash. Despite the huge promise and potential of stem cell research to save lives and benefit the public health.

Supports abolishing Michigan SBT by end of 2007.  If abolished will  eliminate nearly two billion dollars of revenue to the state. Favors one-half of the revenue being replaced by a tax on business, but won't discuss other taxes considered to replace lost revenue or what cuts in services he would recommend.  For comparison, the entire operating budget of Michigan Department of Corrections is 1.7 billion dollars.

Supports eliminating business personal property taxes of 1.8 billion dollars but doesn't have plan to replace revenue lost by municipalities some of which depend upon this tax for 50-60% of their budgets.  This loss would cause elimination of essential  services (police, fire and schools).

Supports eliminating the estate tax.  Is one of 80 families that has lobbied Congress (with millions of dollars) to eliminate Federal and State Estate taxes which would be a huge tax windfall to the wealthiest of the wealthy.