Herman Cain, Republican Party activist and 2012 Presidential candidate is also a newspaper columnist, popular radio talk show host in Atlanta, and former chairman and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, a Pillsbury subsidiary. Cain was born on December 13, 1945 in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Luther and Lenora Cain.
Cain graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia in 1967, with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Mathematics. He received a Masters Degree in Computer Science from Purdue University, in 1971, while working as a mathematician for the U.S. Navy.
In 1977 Cain joined the Pillsbury Company in Minneapolis. Within five years he had risen to the position of Vice-President of Corporate Systems and Services, making him, at 32, the youngest vice president in the history of the corporation. In 1982 he moved to the Burger King subsidiary of Pillsbury, where he gained a reputation for turning around struggling companies. Four years later Cain led a group of investors in purchasing faltering Godfathers Pizza from Pillsbury. Rather than investing more money in marketing as traditional business models advised, he focused on improving service to customers. His strategy worked and Godfather’s became a success. Cain stepped down as Godfathers CEO in 1996.
Cain became President of the National Restaurant Association (NRA) in 1994, where he served for a year. The NRA is the food service industry’s leading trade organization. After serving as deputy chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from 1992 to 1994, he was elected chair and served in that role from 1995 to 1996.
A charismatic speaker, Cain became active in politics in 1994, when he traveled around the country campaigning against President Bill Clinton’s health plan, contending that it would hurt small businesses. Cain entered the political arena in 2000 when he launched an unsuccessful presidential bid. In 2004 he ran for U.S. Senate in Georgia, but lost out to Congressman Johnny Isakson in the Republican primary. In 2000 he launched The
