Don Beyer

Donald S. Beyer, Jr.
United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein
Incumbent
Assumed office 2009
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Peter R. Coneway
Chairman of American International Automobile Dealers Association
In office 2006–2007
Preceded by	Don Hicks
Succeeded by	John Hawkins
36th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
In office January 14, 1990 – January 17, 1998
Preceded by	Doug Wilder
Succeeded by	John H. Hager
Personal details
Born	June 20, 1950 (1950-06-20) (age 61) Trieste, Italy
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Megan Beyer
Residence	Bern, Switzerland
Alma mater	Williams College
Profession	Philanthropist

Donald Sternoff "Don" Beyer, Jr. (born June 20, 1950) is the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein. In addition, he owns automobile dealerships in Virginia, and has a long record involved in community, political and philanthropic work.

From 1990–98 he served as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia as a Democrat during the gubernatorial administrations of Democrat Doug Wilder (1990–1994) and Republican George Allen (1994–1998).

Early life

Beyer was born in Trieste, Italy, the son of U.S. Army officer Don Beyer and his wife, Nancy.^[1] The oldest of six children, he was raised in Washington, D.C. In 1968 he graduated from Gonzaga College High School, where he was salutatorian of his class; in 1972 he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Williams College, magna cum laude, in economics. Beyer was a presidential scholar in 1968, and was a National Merit Scholarship winner. He graduated from a winter Outward Bound course at Dartmouth College in January 1971, and attended Wellesley College that year as part of the "12 College Exchange" program.^[2]

Political career

During his tenure as Lieutenant Governor he served as president of the Virginia Senate. He chaired the Virginia Economic Recovery Commission, the Virginia Commission on Sexual Assault, the Virginia Commission on Disabilities, the Poverty Commission and was co-founder of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, an outgrowth of the Chamber of Commerce.^[3] He was active in promoting high-tech industries, and lead the fight to eliminate disincentives in the Virginia Tax Code to high-tech research and development.^[4]

He is also credited with writing the original welfare reform legislation in Virginia.^[5]

Beyer was the Democratic nominee for governor in 1997, losing in the general election to Republican James S. Gilmore III. He served as Finance Chairman for Mark Warner's Political Action Committee, "Forward Together"^[6] and as the National Treasurer for the 2004 presidential campaign of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean.^[7]

During 2007–08, he endorsed and campaigned extensively for President Barack Obama,^[8] for whom he also raised more than $500,000 in donations. He was appointed by the Democratic National Committee to serve at the 2008 DNC Convention on the Credentials Committee.^[9]

Following the 2008 election, President-elect Obama asked Beyer to head up the transition team at the Commerce Department.^[10]

Obama nominated Beyer for the post of United States Ambassador to Switzerland on June 12, 2009.^[11] In December 2010 Beyer attracted public attention when it was reported that he had warned the Swiss government against offering asylum to Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange.^[12]

Business interests

Beyer and his younger brother, Michael, are the owners of nine Volvo, Land Rover, Kia, Volkswagen, and Subaru car dealerships in Northern Virginia. He is the immediate past chair of the National Volvo Retailer Advisory Board.

In 2006, he served as chairman of the American International Automobile Dealers Association.^[13]

Beyer served as a member of the board of Demosphere International, Inc., a leading soccer registration software provider.^[14] He also is a board member of History Associates, which bills itself as "The Best Company in History."^[15] He has served on the Virginia Board of First Union National Bank, the board of Shenandoah Life Insurance Company, and the board of Lightly Expressed, a fiber optic lighting design and manufacturing firm.

Community, family, personal

During nearly three decades of community activism, he has taken leadership roles on the boards of many business, philanthropic and public policy organizations, including the Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board, the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce and the American Cancer Society. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Grand Award for Highway Safety from the National Safety Federation; the James C. Wheat, Jr. Award for Service to Virginians with Disabilities;^[16] and the Earl Williams Leadership in Technology Award.

He currently chairs the board of the Alexandria Community Trust, Alexandria's community foundation,^[17] and the board of Jobs for Virginia Graduates, the state's largest high school dropout prevention program.^[18] He is past president of the board of Youth for Tomorrow, Washington Redskins' coach Joe Gibbs' residential home for troubled adolescent boys and girls.^[19] He also serves on the board of the DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.^[20]

Beyer and his wife, Megan, along with his two younger children, Clara and Grace, currently live in Bern, Switzerland. In addition, he has two adult children, Don and Stephanie from a previous marriage.^[21]

References

1. ^ The Virginian-Pilot, September 21, 1997
2. ^ 12 College Exchange program manual^{[dead link]}
3. ^ Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, 1990s^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Virginia Business magazine, July 1997^{[dead link]}
5. ^ The Virginian-Pilot, February 16, 1995
6. ^ The Virginian-Pilot, December 7, 2005
7. ^ RaisingKaine blog, May 3, 2007^{[dead link]}
8. ^ "''WTOP'' radio news, April 21, 2007". Wtopnews.com. http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=213&pid=0&sid=1121673&page=3. Retrieved September 23, 2011. 
9. ^ Armstrong, Jerome. "Blogger report, 2008". Mydd.com. http://mydd.com/users/andrewalker08/posts/dean-appoints-credentials-committee-chairs. Retrieved September 23, 2011. 
10. ^ "State Department biography". State.gov. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/128692.htm. Retrieved September 23, 2011. 
11. ^ Bellantoni, Christina (June 12, 2009). "Big Obama donor picked as envoy to Switzerland". Washington Times. http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/12/big-obama-donor-envoy-to-switzerland/. Retrieved June 12, 2009. 
12. ^ "Der Sonntag - Politiker Wollen Wikileaks-Chef Helfen: Asyl Für Assange!". Sonntagonline.ch. http://www.sonntagonline.ch/index.php?show=news&id=1364. Retrieved September 23, 2011. 
13. ^ American International Automobile Dealers Association press release, June 1, 2006^{[dead link]}
14. ^ Demosphere website^{[dead link]}
15. ^ "History Associates website". Historyassociates.com. http://www.historyassociates.com/. Retrieved September 23, 2011. 
16. ^ "Virginia Board for People with Disabilities Newsletter, August 2001". Vaboard.org. May 23, 2009. http://www.vaboard.org/downloads/ib-aug-01.pdf. Retrieved September 23, 2011. 
17. ^ "''The Connection Newspapers'', September 7, 2006". Connectionnewspapers.com. http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=70724&paper=59&cat=203. Retrieved September 23, 2011. 
18. ^ Jobs for Virginia Graduates website^{[dead link]}
19. ^ Youth for Tomorrow website^{[dead link]}
20. ^ "DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy website". Teenpregnancydc.org. http://www.teenpregnancydc.org/content/view/20/35/. Retrieved September 23, 2011. 
21. ^ "From the Potomac to the Aare". Google.com. http://susanvogelmisicka.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/from-the-potomac-to-the-aare.pdf. Retrieved September 23, 2011. 

External links

• State Department biography
• VirginiaEconomicBridge.org, Don Beyer biography
• Don Beyer Volvo website
• Don Beyer Subaru website
• Land Rover Alexandria website
• Beyer Kia website
• Commonwealth of Virginia website

Preceded by Doug Wilder	Lieutenant Governor of Virginia January 14, 1990 – January 17, 1998	Succeeded by John H. Hager
Preceded by Don Hicks	Chairman of American International Automobile Dealers Association 2006–2007	Succeeded by John Hawkins
Preceded by Peter R. Coneway	U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland 2009 –	Succeeded by Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Beyer, Don
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	June 20, 1950
Place of birth	Trieste, Italy
Date of death
Place of death