Jon Huntsman, Jr.

Jon Meade Huntsman, Jr. (born March 26, 1960) is an American politician who served as the 16th Governor of Utah. He also served in the administrations of four United States presidents and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

Huntsman is the son of Jon Huntsman, Sr. and Karen Haight Huntsman, and was raised in Palo Alto, California. He participated in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) as a youth and earned the organization's highest rank, Eagle Scout, at age 15. He served as a Mormon missionary for two years in Taiwan and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in international politics.

Huntsman worked as a White House staff assistant for Ronald Reagan, and he was appointed by George H.W. Bush as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce and later as United States Ambassador to Singapore from 1992–1993. Huntsman served as Deputy United States Trade Representative under George W. Bush, launching global trade negotiations in Doha, Qatar in 2001 and guiding the accession of China and Taiwan into the World Trade Organization.

Huntsman was elected Governor of Utah in 2004 and won re-election in 2008 with nearly 78% of the vote. During his tenure, Huntsman cut taxes by more than $400 million—the largest tax cut in the state's history—while still maintaining a budget surplus and Utah was named the "Best Managed State in America" by Pew Research Center. While governor, he also...
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