The Hon. Mitchell E. Daniels is a Senior Advisor in the Education practice of RIDGE-LANE LP.
Daniels is the President of Purdue University, where he launched a series of initiatives answering some of the greatest challenges facing higher education today, including affordability, accessibility, transformative learning, research, STEM, and investment in new ideas – both internal and through acquisition, with a mission to deliver the best education at the highest proven value.
He served two-terms as Governor of Indiana, receiving more votes than any candidate for any public office in the state's history. As governor, Daniels spearheaded a host of reforms aimed at strengthening the Indiana economy, and improving the ethical standards, fiscal condition and performance of state government.
Governor Daniels led the state to its first balanced budget in eight years and, without a tax increase, transformed the nearly $800 million deficit he inherited into an annual surplus of $370 million within a year. He repaid hundreds of millions of dollars the state had borrowed from Indiana's public schools, state universities and local units of government in previous administrations, and reduced the state's overall debt by 40 percent. Governor Daniels left Indiana with a budget in surplus, reserve funds equal to nearly 15 percent of annual spending, and its first AAA credit rating.
Daniels' first legislative success created the public-private Indiana Economic Development Corporation to replace a failing state bureaucracy in the mission of attracting new jobs. In its first four years of existence, the agency broke all previous records for new jobs in the state and was associated with more than $18 billion of new investment. Site Selection Magazine and CNBC both named Indiana as the Most Improved State for Business in the country, ranking favorably in every national ranking of business attractiveness and job creation.
Governor Daniels' innovations include the lease of the Indiana Toll Road, the largest privatization of public infrastructure in the United States that generated nearly $4 billion, a record-breaking 10-year transportation and infrastructure program, progressive healthcare legislations, innovative education programs, and comprehensive tax reform.
Prior to serving as Governor, Daniels was the CEO of Hudson Institute and President of Eli Lilly and Company, North America. He also served as Chief of Staff to Senator Richard Lugar, and as Senior Advisor to President Ronald Reagan, as well as the Director, U.S. Office of Management and Budget under George W. Bush.
Daniels currently serves as a member of the Boards of Directors for Norfolk Southern Corporation, Interactive Intelligence Group, Cerner Corporation, Energy Systems Network, the Commission on Presidential Debates, The Urban Institute, and The Markle Foundation.
Governor Daniels serves on the American Academy of Arts and Sciences' Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education. He earned a bachelor's degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton, and a law degree from Georgetown University.
