John Lynch (New Hampshire governor)
American politician
John Hayden Lynch (born November 25, 1952) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 80th governor of New Hampshire from 2005 to 2013. Lynch was first elected governor in 2004, defeating first-term Republican incumbent Craig Benson – the first time a first-term incumbent New Hampshire governor was defeated for re-election in 80 years. Lynch won re-election in landslide victories in 2006 and 2008, and comfortably won a fourth term in 2010.
Lynch is the most popular governor in New Hampshire history and, while in office, consistently ranked among the nation's most popular governors.
Since 2013, Lynch has served as a senior lecturer in the MBA program at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
Early life, education and career
Lynch was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, the fifth of William and Margaret Lynch's six children. Lynch earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New Hampshire in 1974, a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center.
During his business career, Lynch served as Director of Admissions at Harvard Business School and President of The Lynch Group, a business consulting firm in Manchester, New Hampshire. Lynch served as CEO of Knoll Inc., a national furniture manufacturer, where he transformed the company previously losing $50 million a year, to making a profits of nearly $240 million yearly. Under his leadership, Knoll created new jobs, gave factory workers annual bonuses, established a scholarship program for the children of employees, created retirement plans for employees who didn't have any, and gave workers stock in the company.
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