Governor Wes Moore
Wes Moore is the 63rd Governor of the state of Maryland. He is Maryland’s first Black Governor in the state’s 246-year history, and is just the third African American elected Governor in the history of the United States.
Born in Takoma Park, Maryland, on Oct. 15, 1978, to Joy and Westley Moore, Moore’s life took a tragic turn when his father died of a rare, but treatable virus when he was just three years old. After his father’s death, his family moved to the Bronx to live with Moore’s grandparents before returning to Maryland at age 14.
Moore is a proud graduate of Valley Forge Military Academy and College, where he received an Associate’s degree in 1998, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Afterward, he went on to earn his Bachelor’s in international relations and economics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
While at Johns Hopkins, Moore interned in the office of former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke. Moore was the first Black Rhodes Scholar in the history of Johns Hopkins University. As A Rhodes Scholar, he earned a Master’s in international relations from Wolfson College at Oxford.
In 2005, Moore deployed to Afghanistan as a captain with the 82nd Airborne Division, leading soldiers in combat. Immediately upon returning home, Moore served as a White House Fellow, advising on issues of national security and international relations.
In 2010, Moore wrote “The Other Wes Moore,” a story about the fragile nature of opportunity in America, which became a perennial New York Times bestseller. He went on to write other best-selling books that reflect on issues of race, equity, and opportunity, including his latest book “Five Days,” which tells the story of Baltimore in the days that followed the death of Freddie Gray in 2015.
Moore built and launched a Baltimore-based business called BridgeEdU, which reinvented freshman year of college for underserved students to increase their likelihood of long-term success. BridgeEdu was acquired by the Brooklyn-based student financial success platform, Edquity, in 2018.
It was Moore’s commitment to taking on our toughest challenges that brought him to the Robin Hood foundation, where he served for four years as CEO. During his tenure, the Robin Hood foundation distributed over $600 million toward lifting families out of poverty, including here in Maryland.
While the Robin Hood foundation is headquartered in New York City, Wes and his family never moved from their home in Baltimore.
Moore has also worked in finance with Deutsche Bank in London and with Citigroup in New York.
Moore and his wife Dawn Flythe Moore have two children – Mia, 11; and James, 9.
Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller
Aruna Miller is the 10th Lieutenant Governor of the state of Maryland. She is the second woman to serve as Lieutenant Governor and the first woman of color and immigrant elected to statewide office in Maryland.
Born in Andhra Pradesh, India, Miller and her family immigrated to the United States when she was 7 years old. The daughter of a mechanical engineer, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Miller has devoted her life to public service and removing systemic barriers to opportunity.
As a civil and transportation engineer in Montgomery County’s Department of Transportation, Miller worked to improve the safety of the public and alleviate traffic by creating equitable access to transportation throughout the county. For 25 years, she oversaw programs that advanced access to schools and employment centers, and made community facilities safe for pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, and people with differing abilities.
From 2010 to 2018, she represented District 15 in the Maryland House of Delegates, where she worked with her constituents to create legislation to invest in STEM education, streamline the regulatory process for small businesses, and was a champion for working families, survivors of domestic abuse, and the environment.
Miller served on the Ways and Means Committee and its Revenue, Transportation, and Education Subcommittees. Additionally, in her second term, she served on the Appropriations Committee, where she served as chair of the Oversight of Personnel Subcommittee, vice chair of the Transportation and Environment Subcommittee, and vice chair of the Capital Budget Subcommittee.
In 2018, Miller ran for Congress to represent Maryland’s 6th District, finishing second in a competitive field of eight candidates in the Democratic Primary.
For over 30 years, she has lived in Montgomery County with her husband David, where they raised three daughters.