Mark Warner, 53, was born and raised in Indiana and Connecticut. He was the first member of his family to graduate from college, earning a degree from The George Washington University thanks to student loans and part-time Capitol Hill jobs.

Warner received a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1980, but chose to pursue a business career. His first two ventures failed quickly, and then he learned of an exciting opportunity in the brand new cellular telephone industry. Warner ultimately co-founded Nextel and Columbia Capital, one of the largest and most successful technology venture capital funds in the mid-Atlantic region.

While working with leaders in the telecom and IT field, Warner recognized that too many people were falling on the wrong side of the digital divide. He started TechRiders, a program that brings free computer training classes to houses of worship across Virginia, and Warner founded the Virginia High-Tech Partnership, which connects students at Virginia’s five historically black colleges with jobs at leading IT companies.

When his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the Warner family went through a frustrating search for support. As a result, Warner launched SeniorNavigator.com, which uses the Internet and a network of volunteers to help older Virginians and their caregivers find answers to medical questions and identify local resources and services.

Mark Warner is especially proud to have served as the founding chair of the Virginia Health Care Foundation, which has provided free and low-cost health care to more than 600,000 Virginians.

In 1989, Warner managed L. Douglas Wilder’s winning campaign for Virginia governor, and Wilder ultimately served as the first African- American elected governor in American history. In 1996, Warner ran for the U.S. Senate, but did not succeed.

In 2001, Mark Warner was elected the 69th Governor of Virginia, and he served until January 2006.

Governor Warner’s administration inherited $6 billion in budget shortfalls and ended with a surplus that allowed the largest single investment in K-12 education in Virginia history, reinvestment in one of the nation’s premier public college and university systems, and record funding to help clean the Chesapeake Bay.

Governor Warner did this by cutting budgets, finding efficiencies, and making business-like reforms to state government and public schools. He spearheaded a modernization of Virginia’s tax code to promote fairness and assure long-term fiscal integrity. Governor Warner placed a focus on successfully recruiting investment and jobs to Virginia regions hit hard by job losses in traditional manufacturing industries.

In 2004, Warner was selected by his colleagues to lead the National Governors Association, and launched a national high school reform effort designed to meet the challenges of a global economy. He was named the “Public Official of the Year” by Governing Magazine in 2004, and he was featured in TIME Magazine’s “America’s Five Best Governors” in 2005 and Newsweek’s “Who’s Next?” issue in 2006.

As a result of Governor Warner’s business-like focus and common-sense fiscal reforms, Virginia has been ranked “the best managed state in the nation” and was designated a “runaway winner” for two consecutive years in the “best state for business” rankings conducted annually by Forbes.com, the Internet platform for the Forbes roster of business publications.

Last fall, Governor Warner announced his candidacy for the open U.S. Senate seat from Virginia, pledging to bring a bipartisan, results-oriented, businesslike approach to Washington.

Mark Warner is a husband and the father of three daughters.