Gov. Mitt Romney

We’ve heard news of Romney keynoting a range of events, from Skiing Industry conventions & Specialty Pharmacy summits to Boy Scout Anniversary dinners; now comes the news that he will also keynote a convention that is ‘catered’ specifically to Owners and Managers of restaurants.

Regarding the conference, I saw one tweeter say, “Seriously? …Mitt Romney?”, perhaps questioning Mitt Romney’s relevance to the restaurant industry. Its evident, however, that Mitt is a respected voice in any industry, with a solid track record of turning around many failed businesses (including Domino’s, the popular pizza giant). Look for keynote spots from Mitt at many more of these types of conferences in the upcoming months.

We’ve read Romney’s resume a million times, but it doesn’t hurt to re-post what they’ve written about Mitt at RestaurantLeadership.com:

Widely recognized for his leadership and accomplishments as a public servant and in private enterprise, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney delivers powerful insight on the current and future challenges facing America and the world, and offers compelling solutions on how America can regain its course.

His is a career marked by success. From 1978 to 1984, Governor Romney enjoyed a successful tenure as Vice President at Bain & Company, a leading management consulting firm, helping businesses grow and improve their operations. In 1984, Romney founded and led Bain Capital, now one of the nation’s most successful venture capital and investment firms. He later took a temporary leave of absence to return to Bain & Company as CEO at a time of financial turmoil to lead the turnaround of the organization.

During the run-up to the 2002 Olympic Games, Romney left the private sector to become President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Given the task of turning around an Olympics mired in controversy and saddled with debt , Romney galvanized community spirit, erased a $379 million operating deficit, organized 23,000 volunteers, and oversaw an unprecedented security mobilization just months after the September 11th attacks, leading to one of the most successful Olympics in the country’s history.

Romney’s career in public service has been equally distinguished. Elected Governor of Massachusetts in 2002, he presided over a dramatic reversal of state fortunes and sustained economic growth, balancing the state budget without raising taxes, creating tens of thousands of new jobs, and enacting education reform to both reward students and aid failing schools. In 2006, Governor Romney proposed and signed into law private, market-based healthcare reform, ensuring that every Massachusetts citizen receives health insurance—without a government takeover and without raising taxes.

Elected Chairman of the Republican Governors Association during the 2006 election cycle, Romney raised a then-record $27 million for candidates running in state house contests across the country.

Governor Romney has been deeply involved in community and civic affairs, serving in his church and numerous charities including City Year, the Boy Scouts, and the Points of Light Foundation. He was also the Massachusetts Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 1994 against Ted Kennedy. He received his B.A., with Highest Honors, from Brigham Young University in 1971. In 1975, he was awarded an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar, and a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.

Governor Romney and his wife Ann have been married for 40 years and have five sons, five daughters-in-law, and fourteen grandchildren.

Registration info for the event can be found here.