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Mike Leavitt

Michael Okerlund Leavitt (11 February 1951-) was the Republican Governor of Utah from 4 January 1993 to 5 November 2003 (succeeding Norm Bangerter and preceding Olene Walker), Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 6 November 2003 to 26 January 2005 (succeeding Christine Todd Whitman and preceding Stephen L. Johnson), and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (succeeding Tommy Thompson and preceding Kathleen Sebelius).

Biography[]

Michael Okerlund Leavitt was born in Cedar City, Utah in 1951, and he worked for his father's regional insurance company before becoming its president and CEO. Leavitt was elected Governor in 1992, and he survived a fire at the Governor's Mansion in 1993 and co-founded Western Governors University as a non-profit private university. He also served as EPA Administrator from 2003 to 2005 and implemented higher standards for air pollutants and a plan to clean up the Great Lakes; as Secretary of Health and Human Services, he advocated for pandemic preparedness, while also claiming that Medicare was drifting toward financial insolvency. He became President of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in August 2021.

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