Special Feature

January 7th, 2010

Steve Poizner, California's Insurance Commissioner and
candidate for the Governor of California, will be the guest speaker for The Escondido Republican Club's (TERC) meeting on Monday, January 18th.

Commissioner Poizner is a highly successful entrepreneur who founded two successful technology companies in Silicon Valley. His last company, SnapTrack, pioneered the technology that put life-saving GPS receivers into 700 million cell phones around the world. He also founded and served as chief executive officer of Strategic Mapping Inc., a company that assists police departments, utilities and transportation companies with strategic planning and logistics.

In 2006 he was elected to oversee the California Department of Insurance (CDI), the largest consumer protection agency in the state. Since assuming office, Commissioner Poizner has cut the operating budget at the Department of Insurance by 15% - making him the only candidate running for Governor who has actually cut waste from state government. Along with cutting the budget at CDI, Steve has cut thousands
of dollars of fees, infusing consumers’ pockets with extra money and stimulating the economy.

In 2006, he was elected as a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations after being nominated by former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz. Following his time on the National Security Council, Steve spent a year "in the trenches" as a volunteer eacher at Mount Pleasant High School in East San Jose, where he taught 12th grade American government. After seeing the crisis conditions facing public schools in California, Steve demonstrated his passion for local control of schools by co-founding EdVoice and the California Charter Schools Association - the state's leading charter school organization. Since his involvement in the charter school movement began, the number of charter schools in California has doubled. Steve moved to California in 1978 to attend Stanford University, where he earned a Master's Degree with Honors in Business Administration.

A Texas native, Steve was born in Corpus Christi and raised in Houston. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Texas where, based on academics and extracurricular leadership, he was named the Top Male Student in a student body of 40,000. Steve was also recognized as one of the top 10 electrical engineering students in the nation. In addition to his academic degrees, Steve also earned a black belt in Shotokan karate, a contact-style martial art.

Steve and his wife, Carol, live in Los Gatos with their daughter, Rebecca.

The meeting will be held at Cocina del Charro, 525 N. Quince, Escondido, CA. Check-in begins at 11:30 AM with the luncheon meeting beginning at noon. To RSVP for the meeting, please call Sharon Wood at (760) 741-5060. For more information about TERC, visit: www.escondidorepublicanclub.org.