Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. is the 49th Governor of the State of Indiana. He was elected on November 2, 2004, and sworn into office on January 10, 2005.

Prior to running for public office for the first time in his life, Mitch Daniels served in top leadership positions in business and government. Today he is using this experience to focus on strengthening Indiana's economy, reforming state government, and restoring the fiscal integrity of the State.

Indiana is on an economic hot streak, thanks to Governor Daniels' strong leadership and the pro-active business-minded skills he brought to state government from his experience as President of Eli Lilly and Company's North American Pharmaceutical Operations and CEO of the Hudson Institute. Daniels created the public-private Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), became chairman of its board, and ordered it to act at the speed of business, not the speed of government, to attract new jobs.

During its first year, the IEDC closed more transactions than in the previous two years combined. In 2006, the IEDC topped its 2005 results in only ten months while becoming the only state in the nation to land three high profile automotive investments - Toyota, Honda, and Cummins. In 2007, the IEDC announced its third consecutive record-breaking year for new investment and job commitments in Indiana while the Governor's continued focus on renewing the state's agricultural sector and strengthening our rural communities moved Indiana to the forefront in the biofuel and clean energy areas.

Governor Daniels has called not only upon his experience in business, but also on his past service as Chief of Staff to Senator Richard Lugar, Senior Advisor to President Ronald Reagan, and Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under President George W. Bush. While at OMB, Daniels served as the lead negotiator in advocating President Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, coordinated the nation's domestic response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and oversaw the budget, management and regulations proposed by all federal agencies.

Click thumbnail above to download Mitch's press photo

On his first day in office, Governor Daniels created Indiana's first Office of Management and Budget to look for efficiencies and cost savings across state government. In 2005, Governor Daniels led the state to its first balanced budget in eight years and, without a tax increase, turned the $600 million deficit he inherited into a $300 million surplus in a single year. Governor Daniels used this surplus to repay hundreds of millions of dollars the state had borrowed from Indiana's public schools in previous administrations.

Daniels earned a bachelor's degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1971 and, while working full-time, he earned a law degree from Georgetown University in 1979.

Mitch Daniels and his wife Cheri have four daughters: Meagan, Melissa, Meredith, and Maggie.