Herman Cain

Herman Cain (Born December 13, 1945) is an American conservative newspaper columnist, businessman, politician, and radio talk-show host from Georgia. He is best known as the former chairman and CEO of Godfather's Pizza. Cain's newspaper column is distributed by North Star Writers Group.

Early life and career

Herman grew up in Georgia. Cain's father worked three jobs because he wanted his family to have more opportunity. Inspired by his father, Cain earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Morehouse College in 1967. He earned a master's degree from Purdue University while working as a mathematician for the Department of the Navy. Upon graduation, he worked as a business analyst for The Coca-Cola Company. In 1968, he married Gloria Etchison. They would go on to have two children and two grandchildren.

In 1977, Cain joined The Pillsbury Company at age 31. Within three years, he rose to the position of Vice President of Corporate Systems and Services. He resigned his senior position in 1982 to begin work at Pillsbury's Burger King Division. Nine months later, he was managing 400 Burger King units in the Philadelphia region, the company's poorest performer. Within three years, his region ranked number one.

In 1986, Cain was appointed president of then financially troubled Godfather's Pizza, Inc. chain. In 14 months, the chain regained profitability and in 1988, he led his executive team in a buyout of the company from Pillsbury. Cain was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Restaurant Association (NRA) in 1988. While serving as Chairman, he developed the organization into a pro-business voice through national debates and speeches concerning healthcare reform, employment policies and taxation. Following this experience, he was appointed to serve on the Economic Growth and Tax Reform Commission. He then became a senior advisor to the 1996 Dole/Kemp presidential campaign.

While continuing as President and Chairman of Godfather's Pizza, Inc., Cain became a national keynote speaker. Using his message as the foundation, Cain created a leadership firm and he has authored three books on topics ranging from leadership to self-empowerment. In 2002, he became an Executive Lecturer for the Gallup Organization.

In 1996, Cain was elected CEO and president of the NRA. Additionally, Cain is a former Chairman and Member of The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from 1992 to 1996. Cain leveraged his restaurant experience with the technology market when he became CEO and president of RetailDNA, a software technology company, in 1999. Currently, having left CEO and Chairman of the Board positions of Godfather's Pizza, he is still a member of the Board of Directors of various companies. Cain also serves as an associate minister of Antioch Baptist Church North in Atlanta.

In 2003, Cain announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for United States Senate from Georgia to replace retiring Senator Zell Miller. Cain campaigned on replacing the federal income tax code with the FairTax (a national sales tax plan), restructuring the Social Security system, reducing the influence of government and the courts in the health care system and increasing public participation in politics. Cain was defeated in the 2004 Republican primary by Congressman Johnny Isakson, Georgia's 6th District Representative at that time. Isakson later won the general election and was sworn into the United States Senate on January 5, 2005.

Cain wrote a book, "They Think You're Stupid", with a foreword by Zell Miller.

Cain writes a syndicated newspaper column distributed by North Star Writers Group. [ [http://northstarwriters.com North Star Writers Group - Syndicated Commentary: Opinion, Humor and Features ] ] He is a recurring guest on Fox News Channel's "Cost of Freedom" business block segment. Cain is also a frequent substitute host for "The Neal Boortz Show" Boortz and Bill Bennett's "Morning in America". Cain also hosts his own syndicated radio program, which airs on Saturdays; the show originates from WSB-AM in Atlanta, Georgia.

On December 5, 2007, WSB-AM announced he was going to have his own weekday evening talk show on the station starting January 2, 2008. Cain said he will be taking the spot currently held by syndicated host Michael Savage. [ [http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/accessatlanta/radiotalk/entries/2007/12/07/127_a_talk_with.html] ]

Cancer Diagnosis

In April 2006, a spokesperson for Herman Cain announced that he had been diagnosed with colon cancer. In early 2007, it was announced that after nearly a year of chemotherapy, as well as surgery to his liver and colon, he was cancer free. Cain said he planned to resume all of his pre-cancer activities. [ [http://www.gacancerfoundation.org/news/2007/herman-cain/index.html] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.hermancain.com/ Herman Cain's official website]
* [http://www.northstarwriters.com/ North Star Writers Group]
* [http://www.newvoicefoundation.org/ A New Voice Foundation]
* [http://www.newvotersalliance.org/ New Voters Alliance]
* [http://sev.prnewswire.com/radio/20060213/DEM02513022006-1.html Herman Cain Joins North Star Writers Group]
* [http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2006/05/02/for_cain_the_knife_delayed.html Herman Cain Diagnosed With Cancer]