Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, is expected to announce her candidacy for President of the United States on May 4th. We’ve got the main points you need to know about her:
She’s a staunch Republican. Although according to a national CNN poll released last week, only 2% of Republicans named her as their first choice in the presidential election, less than 12 other candidates and likely candidates.
She has never held elected office. Fiorina was the Republican nominee for Senate from California in 2010, but she lost to incumbent Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer. She does however have a familiarity with politics—she served as a surrogate for Sen. John McCain during his 2008 presidential campaign.
She’s pro-life. “I ran as a proud, pro-life conservative,” said Fiorina of her failed California bid. Fiorina also said that her husband’s mother had been encouraged by doctors to end her pregnancy for health reasons, but she didn’t, because “she was a woman of great courage and great faith. I have thought often about how different my own life would have been had she made a different choice.”
She’s from Texas. Fiorina was born in Austin, Texas on September 6, 1954. After dropping out of law school, she became an AT&T sales rep, gradually working her way up to Hewlett-Packard.
She served as chief-executive officer of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005. Fiorina was considered one of the most powerful women in business during her time at Hewlett-Packard. In 2002, Fiorina pushed for a contentious merger with rival computer company Compaq, which made HP the world’s largest personal computer manufacturer but made its stock lose half of its value. Fiorina was forced to resign from HP in 2005. Since then she has been described as one of the worst tech CEOs of all time.
She is a breast cancer survivor. Fiorina said she begins each day with prayer which helped her overcome breast cancer in 2009 and cope with the death of her 35-year-old stepdaughter, Lori Ann, “to the demons of addiction.”
She has met many of the world’s leaders. Fiorina has boasted about having “met more world leaders on the stage today than virtually anyone else running for president, with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton.” Fiorina’s list included Russian President Vladimir Putin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
She’s definitely not a Hillary Clinton fan. In her own words: “Hillary Clinton cannot be president of the United States because she is not trustworthy. And while she has held many titles, she hasn’t accomplished very much.”
She has a book coming out next month. Fiorina is expected to announce her underdog candidacy May 4th, the day before the release of her latest book, Rising to the Challenge: My Leadership Journey.
Image via: Life News
