Deval L. Patrick

Deval Patrick was reelected to a second term as Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in November 2010. Guided by the advice of his grandmother to "hope for the best and work for it," Governor Patrick entered office in 2006, a first-time candidate propelled by an unprecedented grassroots campaign. Patrick came to Massachusetts in 1970 at the age of 14. A motivated student despite the difficult circumstances of poor and sometimes violent Chicago schools, he was awarded a scholarship to Milton Academy through A Better Chance, a Boston-based organization. He is a graduate of Harvard College, the first in his family to attend college, and of Harvard Law School. After clerking for a federal judge, he led a successful career in the private sector as an attorney and business executive, rising to partner at two Boston law firms and to senior executive positions at Texaco and Coca-Cola. In 1994, President Clinton appointed Patrick as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, the nation’s top civil rights post. Patrick has served on corporate and not-for-profit boards, is the recipient of several honorary degrees, is a Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, and is the author of two books, A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life and Faith in the Dream: A Call to the Nation to Reclaim American Values.