Michael Bloomberg

Mayor Bloomberg As a ChildMichael R. Bloomberg is the 108th Mayor of the City of New York. Born on February 14, 1942 in Boston and raised by middle-class parents in Medford, Massachusetts, he was taught at an early age the values of hard work and civic responsibility. He attended Johns Hopkins University, where he paid his tuition by taking loans and working as a parking lot attendant during the summer. After college, he went on to receive an MBA from Harvard Business School. In 1966, he was hired by Salomon Brothers to work on Wall Street.

Mayor Bloomberg On The PhoneHe quickly rose through the ranks at Salomon, where he eventually oversaw equity trading and sales and then information systems. These two jobs enabled him to gain a keen understanding of the importance of technological innovation to a successful business. In 1981, Salomon was acquired, and he was squeezed out by the merger. With a vision of an information company that would use emerging technology to bring transparency and efficiency to the buyers and sellers of financial securities, he began a small start-up company called Bloomberg LP in 1981. Today, Bloomberg LP has over 275,000 subscribers to its financial news and information service in 161 countries around the globe. Headquartered in New York City, the company has more than 10,000 employees worldwide.

As his company grew, Michael Bloomberg started directing more of his attention to philanthropy, donating his time and resources to many different causes. He has sat on the boards of numerous charitable, cultural, and educational institutions, including Johns Hopkins University, where, as chairman of the board, he helped build the Bloomberg School of Public Health into one of the world's leading institutions of public health research and training.

Mayor Bloomberg's 2002 Inauguration Swear-inAlready deeply involved in civic affairs, he officially entered public life in 2001, when he entered the race for Mayor of the City of New York. His election came just two months after the tragic attacks of 9/11, at a time when many believed that crime would return, businesses would flee, and New York might never recover. Instead, under Mayor Bloomberg’s forward-looking leadership, and with his determination to build on the spirit of unity that defined the city after the attacks, New York rebounded faster and stronger than anyone expected.

Mayor Bloomberg With KidsIn his first term, Mayor Bloomberg cut crime 20 percent; created jobs by supporting small businesses; unleashed a building boom of affordable housing; expanded parks and worked to revitalize the waterfront; implemented ambitious public health strategies, including the successful ban on smoking in restaurants and bars; expanded support for community arts organizations; and improved the efficiency of government. In addition, fulfilling a campaign promise, he won control of New York's schools from the broken Board of Education, and began turning around the nation’s largest school district by injecting standards into the classroom and holding schools accountable for success. As a result, graduation rates have increased by more than 20 percent, and reading and math scores have both risen to record levels.

Mayor Bloomberg During PLANYC 2030 SpeechIn 2005, Mayor Bloomberg was re-elected by a diverse coalition of support that stretched across the political spectrum. In the first half of his second term, while balancing the budget and driving unemployment to a record low, Mayor Bloomberg took on a number of new challenges. He launched an innovative program to combat poverty that encourages work and makes work pay. He began a far-reaching campaign to fight global warming and give New York City the cleanest air of any major U.S. city. And he co-founded a bipartisan coalition 15 mayors - which has grown to more than 350 mayors - to keep illegal guns out of the hands of criminals and off city streets.

When the current financial crisis hit and the national economy entered a serious recession, the Mayor launched a Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan to bring the City through the downturn as quickly as possible. The Plan is focused on creating jobs for New Yorkers today, implementing a vision for growing the City’s economy over the long-term, and building affordable, attractive neighborhoods across all five boroughs.

Mayor Bloomberg is the father of two daughters, Emma and Georgina.