Blair Hull
Contents
Overview
Founder of The Hull Group (formerly known as the Hull Trading Company), an international electronic trading company, and current Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Matlock Capital, a Chicago investment firm focusing on financial engineering, systems, and investment.[1]. The Hull Group was sold in 1999 to Goldman, Sachs, and Co.[2] Hull is a Vietnam War veteran, was a high school math and physics teacher, and served on the national board of NARAL.[3] Hull began making his fortune after leaving grad school through winning at BlackJack, winning $25,000 which he then used to work on the floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange (PSE).[4]
Blair Hull is primarily known for his involvement in the 2004 Democratic Primary election. Though a February CBS2/WBBM poll by SurveyUSA showed him leading 29% to 19% by closest challengers Barack Obama and Dan Hynes,[5] when newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, began reporting on his divorce files, claiming he had abused his wife, his support plummeted and he finished on March 16th with just 10% of the vote.[6][7] As the Claremont Institute concluded, pressure from journalists and opposing candidates forced him to release his divorce records.[8]
Anita Dunn, who worked on Barack Obama's campaign and held a White House position, formerly worked on Hull's campaign as a media strategist.[9] Blair Hull was identified as 'Candidate C' in the famous Blagojevich scandal to sell Barack Obama's former Senate seat.[10]
Political Positions
Mr. Hull is Pro-Choice, supports Affirmative Action, opposes the Death Penalty, supports universal health care, and opposes privatization of Social Security.[11] He also opposes tax cuts for the wealthy.[3]
Current Associations
- Partner in the Democracy Alliance
- Serves on the Board of Directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs
- Member of the Board of Trustees for the University of California Santa Barbara Foundation[1]
Past Associations
- Served on National Board of Directors for NARAL
- 1992-1998: Served on Board of the Options Clearing Corporation
- 1988-1990: Served on Board of Directors for Chicago Board Options Exchange[1]
Political Finances
From 1993-2002, Blair Hull gave $757,000 to Illinois political candidates, nearly all of it to Democrats.[9]
Contributions can also be seen at the Huffington Post's Hull Campaign Contributions search page, powered by FundRace2008.
Education
- Bachelor of Arts degree from University of California, Santa Barbara
- Master of Business Administration degree from Santa Clara University (1967-1969)
- Graduated from Harvard OPM program[1]
External Links
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Blair Hull - Chairman and CEO of Matlock Capital"
- ↑ "Founder Blair Hull: Matlock Capital", Matlock Capital LLC.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Blair Hull, Democrat for U.S. Senate," BlairHull.com.
- ↑ Navroz Patel, "From Politics to Portfolios," Risk Magazine, March 1, 2005.
- ↑ "SurveyUSA Poll," SurveyUSA.
- ↑ Jeremiah Calvino, "Barack Obama is the next Senator from Illinois and the only African American currently in the Senate-Saturday, February 28," ILSenate.com.
- ↑ Matt Barnum, "Remember Blair Hull? Barack Obama does," Chicago Maroon, November 14, 2006.
- ↑ William Voegeli, [http://www.claremont.org/publications/pubid.339/pub_detail.asp "The Rise and Fall of Blair Hull," The Claremont Institute, March 19, 2004.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Illinois Senate Race-2004," ILSenateRace.com.
- ↑ Steve Rhodes, "Meet Senate Candidate C: Blair Hull," NBC Chicago, August 4, 2009.
- ↑ "Blair Hull-The Issues," ILSenateRace.com.
