Kasich Campaign Press Release - Breaking: Kasich For America Announces National Leadership Team

Today the Kasich for America campaign announced its national leadership team: Gay Gaines, Trent Lott, Larry Paul and John E. Sununu. All will serve as National Co-Chairs and provide guidance and strategic counsel across all facets of the campaign.

Said Governor John Kasich, "It is humbling to have earned the confidence of such a respected, experienced and talented group of national leaders. Their counsel and expertise will further strengthen our organization, and I am deeply grateful for their support and guidance."

Gay Gaines

Ms. Gay Hart Gaines has long been active in a wide range of charitable, civic, and conservative organizations and causes at both the national and the local levels.

Her conservative credentials are second to none. She was a charter member of GOPAC, which she chaired from 1993-1997, and chair of the National Review Institute from 1991-1993. Long active in Republican Party affairs, Gaines has served as a trustee of the Palm Beach County Republican Party, and as a board member and president of the Palm Beach Republican Club. Gaines has also served as a member of the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Madison Council of the Library of Congress.

Widely recognized for her philanthropy and public service, Ms. Gaines represented Florida on the Board of George Washington's Mount Vernon home in Virginia, was Regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, and has also been involved with such well-known arts groups as the New York City Ballet, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Guthrie Theater of Minneapolis. Additionally, she has served as a board member of the Hudson Institute, the Best Friends Foundation, and the Juvenile Diabetes Association, where she was also president for three years.

A graduate of Sweet Briar College, Gaines resides in Palm Beach, Florida, with her husband, Stanley. They have four children and eleven grandchildren.

Trent Lott

Former United States Senate Majority Leader Senator Lott represented the people of Mississippi in Congress for 35 years and is one of a handful of officials to have held elected leadership positions in both the House of Representatives and Senate. During his 16 years in the House and 19 years in the Senate, he worked closely with seven presidential administrations and was regarded as a savvy coalition builder and dealmaker.

Senator Lott joined the House in 1973, representing Mississippi's Fifth Congressional District. From 1981 to 1989 he served as House Minority Whip, the second-ranking Republican in the House. In that position he forged the bipartisan alliance that enacted Ronald Reagan's economic recovery program and national security initiatives. He also founded the House's first modern whip organization with a focus on regular member-to-member contacts and extensive outreach to sympathetic Democrats to secure passage of major legislation.

In 1988 Senator Lott was elected to the Senate where he was a member of a group of pro-growth stalwarts who opposed the tax increase forced on President Bush in 1990. He became the Senate's 16th Majority Leader in 1996 and, along with Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, was instrumental in the passing of the historic welfare reform bill of 1996. The next year Senator Lott worked with Gingrich and congressional Budget Committee chairmen John Kasich and Pete Domenici to produce a landmark budget and tax cut agreement that limited some federal spending while, more importantly, stimulating the economic growth that brought the federal budget into balance for the first time since 1968.

In 2006 Senator Lott was elected Senate Republican Whip, giving him the distinction of being the only person to hold that position in both the House and Senate.

Larry Paul

Larry Paul is the co-founder and managing principal of Laurel Crown Partners, a family office private equity fund focused on investing in growth-oriented businesses with established operations and management. In that role he has overseen a wide range of acquisitions and subsequently participated in the strategic management of those purchased portfolio companies.

Prior to joining Laurel Crown, Paul was a senior member of the health-care investment banking team at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) in both New York and Los Angeles and then CS First Boston after its purchase of DLJ. In that capacity, his primary area of responsibility was life sciences including pharmaceuticals and therapeutics, medical devices and technology, biotechnology, drug delivery, drug discovery and distribution.

Paul currently serves as Vice Chairman, Finance of the American Red Cross. He is also a board member of Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, and a member of the Steering Committee for the Institute for the Study of the Economics of Sports and Society at UCLA. He previously served as a member of the management committee of the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Paul currently serves on the public board of Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation, as well as on the boards of several portfolio investments. Paul and his family are also one of the principal shareholders of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He previously served as a director of Morton's Restaurant Group.

Paul received his A.B. from Harvard University, his M.D. from Harvard University and his M.B.A. from Stanford Business School.

John E. Sununu

Beginning in 1996, Sen. Sununu served for three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and, subsequently, for six years as the youngest member of the U.S. Senate. As one of the few members of Congress with a technical background, Sen. Sununu rose quickly to earn a seat on the House Appropriations Committee and serve as vice chairman of the Budget Committee. As a senator, he served on committees such as Commerce, Finance, Banking and Foreign Relations.

In the Senate, John Sununu took a lead role in pressing for regulatory reform, writing legislation that was signed into law in 2008 to reign in risk-taking at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He was the author of a comprehensive proposal to establish federal oversight for national insurance firms and was widely recognized for his command of the complexities and unintended consequences of financial services regulation. In 2007, he negotiated and helped to pass a seven-year ban on Internet taxes – the longest to date.

Sen. Sununu has traveled extensively in the Middle East and Central Asia, leading delegations to monitor the Palestinian presidential elections in 2005 and the Lebanese parliamentary elections in June 2009. He is a member of the Mid-East Working Group at the U.S. Institute for Peace. He currently serves on the boards of Time Warner Cable and Boston Scientific.

Before entering public service, Sen. Sununu worked for emerging high-tech firms as an engineer, a strategy consultant and a chief financial officer.