Gov. Jon Corzine

Governor Jon Corzine was born on January 1, 1947, and grew up on a small family farm in the central Illinois community of Willey’s Station. His father farmed and sold insurance; his mother was a public school teacher. His interest in politics was forged in his farming community.

Corzine graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1969 and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. He remained in the reserves until 1975. After his active duty in the Marine Corps, he began his career in finance, working as a portfolio analyst at the Continental Illinois National Bank in Chicago. He enrolled in the graduate business school of the University of Chicago in 1970, first attending classes at night. He received his MBA in 1973, and went to work at Bank Ohio, a regional bank in Columbus, Ohio.

In 1975, Corzine was recruited by Goldman Sachs, the New York investment firm, and he and his family moved to New Jersey. He was named a partner at Goldman Sachs in 1980, and became chairman and chief executive officer in 1994. He left Goldman Sachs in May 1999 after successfully converting the investment firm from a private partnership to a public company. During his leadership at Goldman Sachs, Fortune magazine named Goldman Sachs one of the 10 best companies to work for in America. The governor was named by Time magazine as one of the top 50 technology executives in the country in 1997.

Corzine was elected to the United States Senate in November 2000. During his time in the Senate, he focused on serving the state of New Jersey, applying his financial expertise to major economic and regulatory issues, and pushing a forward-looking, progressive agenda.

Corzine was sworn in as New Jersey’s 54th Governor on January 17, 2006.

Corzine has three children.