Glenn Youngkin

Glenn Allen Youngkin (born December 9, 1966) is an American businessman and politician currently serving as the 74th governor of Virginia since 2022. A member of the Republican Party, he spent 25 years at the private-equity firm the Carlyle Group, where he became co-CEO in 2018. He resigned from that position in 2020 to run for governor. Youngkin won the 2021 Republican primary for Governor of Virginia and defeated former Democratic governor Terry McAuliffe in the general election, becoming the state's first Republican governor since Bob McDonnell in 2009. Inaugurated during the global COVID-19 pandemic, Youngkin supported vaccination efforts against the disease but opposed mandates for the vaccine, and banned mask mandates in Virginia public schools; this ban was partially rescinded following legal challenges. During his first year in office, Youngkin signed a bipartisan state budget that paired increased education spending with expansive tax cuts. Early life and education Glenn Allen Youngkin was born in Richmond, Virginia, on December 9, 1966. He is the son of Ellis ( Quinn) and Carroll Wayne Youngkin. His father played basketball for Duke University and worked in accounting and finance. Youngkin's mother was a doctorally prepared nurse practitioner who specialized in women's health; she was also a professor of nursing, and an associate dean for graduate studies at Florida Atlantic University. When Youngkin was a teenager, the family moved from Richmond to Virginia Beach. He attended the private Norfolk Academy in Norfolk, Virginia, graduating in 1985. He received numerous high school basketball honors. Youngkin attended Rice University in Houston, Texas, on a basketball scholarship. He played four seasons for the Owls in the Southwest Conference, and he totaled 82 points and 67 rebounds in his career. In 1990, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in managerial studies and a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering. He attended Harvard Business School and earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in 1994.