Business executive and potential 2016 presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina has earned a reputation as one of the most powerful women in corporate America. In 2004, she was No. 10 on Forbes' list of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women."
Her career in executive leadership, including a stint as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, spans 35 years, but does Fiorina have what it takes to beat her possible Republican rivals for the GOP nomination?
Here are eight facts about Fiorina's background that have affected her political career:
1. Fiorina was born in Austin, Texas. Her father was a federal judge and law professor, which may have fueled her decision to study law,
according to Biography.com.
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2. In 1976, she attended law school at the University of California in Los Angeles. She dropped out after one semester when she decided a career in law was not for her, a move that Biography.com said dismayed her father, who thought she wouldn’t “amount to much.”
3. In 2008, Fiorina served as an advisor to Republican presidential candidate John McCain. According to Newsweek at the time, Carley Fiorina had a “significant” role in the political campaign. “Fiorina has emerged as the most prominent surrogate on economics issues in any of the major campaigns, and her alliance with McCain suggests both his strength and his weakness on the subject,”
Newsweek said.
4. Fiorina estimated her net worth in 2009 to be between $30 million and $120 million when she declared her Senate candidacy,
The Washington Post reported. She donated $5.2 million and loaned $1.5 million to her campaign; she was repaid the loaned amount, according to the Federal Election Commission.
5. In 2010, she was California's Republican nominee for Senate. She lost to Barbara Boxer, but came closer than any other Republican candidate.
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6. In 2011, she was named vice chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, but despite holding that and other prominent positions in the party,
she told Politico that "she's clearly not an establishment politician."
7. After her run for Senate, Fiorina still owed more than $486,000 in campaign debts, as of September 2014,
the FEC reported. However, Fiorina stated in
a January 2015 interview with Hugh Hewitt that the campaign debts have been paid.
8. In 2014, in an effort to attract female voters, Fiorina started the Unlocking Potential Project. UP raised $1.7 million in contributions in the first five months due to the support of the group's wealthy donors.
The organization’s website said, “The mission of the Unlocking Potential Project is to engage women with new messages and new messengers by focusing on personal interactions with voters and going beyond the traditional methods of identifying, persuading, and turning-out voters. Women are a vastly underutilized resource and represent half of our nation. We cannot permit liberal orthodoxy to marginalize women or suppress their enthusiasm for our candidates.”
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