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Tommy Thompson
Health and Human Services Secretary
Webcast April 30, 2002, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT
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Tommy Thompson gained national attention when he spearheaded a welfare reform drive as Wisconsin's governor. He also created the first school choice program in the nation. Both issues figured in George W. Bush's presidential campaign, and they won Thompson the post of Health and Human Services chief in the new administration.
As head of the nation's health and welfare programs, Thompson now oversees more than 60,000 personnel and a budget of nearly $5 billion. He began his career in public service in 1966 as a representative in Wisconsin's state Assembly. He was elected governor in 1987 and served as chairman of the National Governors' Association.
In 1996, then-Governor Thompson enacted Wisconsin's landmark welfare-to-work legislation. The program, which required welfare recipients to work, reduced the state's monthly welfare caseload by more than 90 percent. But it was also viewed as old school conservative politics that hurt the poor and helped the rich, particularly as it abolished the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program.
In the 1990s, Thompson instituted a system to allow low-income Milwaukee families to send children to the private or public school of their choice. He also created Wisconsin's Council on Model Academic Standards, which implemented high academic standards for English, language arts, math, science and social studies.
Thompson was born November 19, 1941 in Elroy, Wisconsin. He received his B.S. in 1963 and his J.D. in 1966 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Thompson is married to Sue Ann and has three children, Tommi, Kelli and Jason.
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