Like fellow Bay Stater Senator Warren, our most recent ex-Governor has decided his talents can be put to better use than the current primary race. From his hometown paper, the Boston Globe:
Deval Patrick is joining the Boston investment giant Bain Capital, where the former governor will start a new line of business, directing investments in companies that produce profits but also have a positive impact on social problems.
Patrick, a Democrat who led the state of Massachusetts for eight years, joins a firm founded by his Republican predecessor in the State House, Mitt Romney.
It marks a return to business pursuits for a high-profile former governor whose plans for the future were fodder for intense speculation in political circles…
Patrick has long said that he wanted to return to the private sector after his second term as governor, even as observers wondered if he had designs on Washington. He has considered academia, running a corporation, and starting his own venture capital firm…
The new fund is not philanthropy, Bain executives said. There will be significant pressure on Patrick to find strong investments, companies that can both address major social needs and produce profits, though not necessarily on the scale Bain typically expects of its multibillion-dollar private equity deals.
Investment funds at Bain typically run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, but raising that kind of money should not be hard. Bain Capital executives will invest some of their personal money in it, as they do with all their funds. And there is a growing appetite for so-called impact investing, from pension funds, endowments, and nonprofits such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation…
For Bain Capital, the Patrick hiring goes beyond the common practice of giving a politician a desk and a rainmaker’s role between elections. It is a way for a firm known for hard-core business deals to provide clients such as pension funds and wealthy individuals with a social outlet for their money…
[Patrick] would not say whether he had signed a contract to stay at Bain for a certain period of time. Bain executives indicated they would not have entered into this arrangement for only a brief stint…Boger suggested it is probably at least a three- to five-year investment: “This is not the kind of thing where you make three phone calls, get two people together, and get a reward for it.’’
Patrick’s been saying for months that he intended to stick to his promise to his wife to get out of politics once he left the governor’s office — which hasn’t stopped people from believing that he might yet be persuaded to run, if there was an opening. He’s still a young man in political terms, but we might as well cross him off the list for 2016.
Late Night Open Thread: Another Democrat Who Will Not Be Running in 2016Post + Comments (51)