Elisabeth Dee DeVos is a former government official who served as the 11th United States secretary of education from 2017 to 2021. She is known for her support for school choice, school voucher programs, and charter schools. Her husband is former Amway CEO Dick Prince, who is also the founder and CEO of the Blackwater security company. In 2008, Forbes listed the Prince family as ‘the 88th richest in America’ with a net worth of $5.4 billion.
About Betsy DeVos in brief
Elisabeth Dee DeVos is a former government official who served as the 11th United States secretary of education from 2017 to 2021. She is known for her support for school choice, school voucher programs, and charter schools. Her brother, Erik Prince, a former U.S. Navy SEAL officer, is the founder of Blackwater USA. In 2016, the family was listed by Forbes as the 88th-richest in America, with an estimated net worth of USD 5.4 billion. She was a Republican National Committeewoman for Michigan between 1992 and 1997, and served as chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party from 1996 to 2000. On January 7, 2021, DeVos tendered her resignation as education secretary as a result of the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, saying to President Trump in her resignation letter, “There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation.’’ She is married to former Amway CEO Dick DeVos, and their son is Edgar Prince, founder of the Prince Corporation. The family has been active in Republican politics for decades, particularly as donors to candidates and the party, giving more than USD 17 million to candidates since 1989. In 2003, DeVos raised more than $150,000 for the Bush re-election campaign and hosted a Republican fundraiser at her home in October 2008 that was headlined by President George W. Bush. During the Bush Administration, she spent two years as the financeperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and worked closely with the Administration on numerous projects.
In 2004, the Lansing State Journal described DeVos as “a political pit bull for most of Granholm’s 16 months in office,’ and said that if DeVos was not Granholm’s “worst nightmare,” she was “certainly her most persistent’”. In 2000, she ran again for the party chairman and was elected to the post without the support of the opposition. She has been a member and elder of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She graduated from Calvin College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in business economics in 1979. DeVos is of Dutch ancestry and grew up as a member of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. She served as a local precinct delegate for the MichiganRepublican Party, having been elected for 16 consecutive two-year terms since 1986. She has served as head of the board of the Alliance for School Choice and the Acton Institute and headed the All Children Matter PAC. Her husband is former Am Way CEO Dick Prince, who is also the founder and CEO of the Blackwater security company. In 2008, Forbes listed the Prince family as ‘the 88th richest in America’ with a net worth of $5.4 billion. In 2012, Forbes reported that the Prince Family was worth an estimated $1.6 billion. The Prince family is also one of the top five wealthiest families in the world, according to Forbes.
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