1. Westley Watende Omari Moore was born on October 15,1978 and is an American politician, businessman, author, and veteran, serving as the 63rd governor of Maryland since 2023.
58 Facts About Wes Moore
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Wes Moore graduated from Johns Hopkins University and received a master's degree from Wolfson College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar.
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Between 2010 and 2015, Wes Moore published five books, including a young-adult novel.
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Wes Moore served as CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation from 2017 to 2021.
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Wes Moore hosted Beyond Belief on the Oprah Winfrey Network, and was executive producer and a writer for Coming Back with Wes Moore on PBS.
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Wes Moore won the 2022 Maryland gubernatorial election, becoming Maryland's first African-American governor and the third African-American person elected governor of any US state.
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Wes Moore was occasionally babysat by Kamala Harris' stepmother, Carol Kirlew.
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Wes Moore's grandmother, Winell Thomas, a Cuban who moved to Jamaica before immigrating to the US, was a retired schoolteacher.
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In 1998, Wes Moore graduated Phi Theta Kappa from Valley Forge with an associate degree, completed the requirements for the United States Army's early commissioning program, and was appointed a second lieutenant of Military Intelligence in the Army Reserve.
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At Johns Hopkins, he played wide receiver for the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays football team for two seasons and was initiated into the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society, and Sigma Sigma Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc In 1998 and 1999, Wes Moore interned for Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke.
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Wes Moore interned at the United States Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Tom Ridge.
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Wes Moore was activated in the Army following the September 11 attacks, and was deployed to Afghanistan from 2005 to 2006, attaining the rank of captain while serving in the 82nd Airborne Division.
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In February 2006, Wes Moore was named a White House Fellow to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
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Wes Moore later worked as an investment banker at Deutsche Bank in Manhattan and at Citibank from 2007 to 2012 while living in Jersey City, New Jersey.
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In 2009, Wes Moore was included on Crain's New York Business's "40 Under 40" list.
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In 2010, Wes Moore founded a television production company, Omari Productions, to create content for networks such as the Oprah Winfrey Network, PBS, HBO, and NBC.
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In May 2014, he produced a three-part PBS series, Coming Back with Wes Moore, which followed the lives and experiences of returning veterans.
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In 2014, Wes Moore founded BridgeEdU, a company that provided services to support students in their transition to college.
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Wes Moore was the commencement speaker at Utah Valley University's class of 2014 graduation ceremony.
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In September 2016, Wes Moore produced All the Difference, a PBS documentary that followed the lives of two young African-American men from the South Side of Chicago from high school through college and beyond.
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From June 2017 until May 2021, Wes Moore was CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, a charitable organization that attempts to alleviate problems caused by poverty in New York City.
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Wes Moore sought to expand his advocacy to include America's poor and transform the organization into a national force in the poverty fight.
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Wes Moore served on Under Armour's board of directors from September 2020 to November 2022, resigning from the board shortly after becoming governor-elect.
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In December 2012, Moore announced that The Other Wes Moore would be developed into a feature film, with Oprah Winfrey attached as an executive producer.
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The book maintains the message and story set out in The Other Wes Moore, but is more accessible to young adults.
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In January 2015, Wes Moore wrote his third book, The Work.
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Wes Moore first expressed interest in politics in June 1996, telling a New York Times reporter that he planned to attend law school and enter politics after two years at Valley Forge.
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Wes Moore told The Baltimore Sun in October 2022 that he felt the idea of holding elected office "only started to feel like a real possibility in 2020, when he was about to leave his job running Robin Hood".
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Wes Moore gave a speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, supporting Barack Obama for president.
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In February 2017, Governor Larry Hogan nominated Wes Moore to serve on the University System of Maryland Board of Regents.
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In October 2020, Wes Moore was named to serve on the transition team of Baltimore mayor-elect Brandon Scott.
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In June 2013, a Baltimore Sun investigation alleged that Wes Moore was improperly receiving homestead property tax credits and owed back taxes to the city of Baltimore.
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Wes Moore told The Sun that he was unaware of any issues with the home's taxes and wanted to pay what he owed immediately.
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In October 2022, Baltimore Brew reported that Wes Moore had not paid any water and sewage charges since March 2021, owing $21,200 to the city of Baltimore.
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Wes Moore settled his outstanding bills shortly after the article was published.
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Wes Moore was the subject of a CNN article in which he was accused of embellishing his childhood and where he actually grew up.
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Shortly after the article was published, Wes Moore created a website that attempted to rebut the allegations.
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Wes Moore was later criticized for failing to correct television interviewers who incorrectly said he received the Bronze Star Medal during interviews.
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Fenzel told the New York Times that Wes Moore initially objected to mentioning the Bronze Star in his application, but included it after he told Wes Moore that he and others approved the medal and that the paperwork would be processed by the time his fellowship began.
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Fenzel said that he would resubmit the paperwork so that Wes Moore could be awarded a Bronze Star the week that the New York Times published their article about Wes Moore's application.
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Wes Moore was finally awarded a Bronze Star Medal in December 2024.
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Wes Moore left Green Thumb Industries in March 2022, and said in October that he would use a blind trust to hold his assets and resign from every board position if elected governor.
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In May 2023, Wes Moore finalized his trust, making him the first governor to have one since Bob Ehrlich.
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In February 2021, Wes Moore announced he was considering a run for governor of Maryland in the 2022 election.
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Wes Moore launched his campaign on June 7,2021, emphasizing "work, wages, and wealth" and running on the slogan "leave no one behind".
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Wes Moore's running mate was Aruna Miller, a former state delegate who represented Maryland's 15th district from 2010 to 2019.
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Wes Moore received backing from the Maryland State Education Association and VoteVets.
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Wes Moore defeated Cox in the general election, and became Maryland's first Black governor and the first veteran to be elected governor since William Donald Schaefer.
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In December 2022, Wes Moore was elected to serve as finance chair of the Democratic Governors Association.
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Wes Moore took the oath of office on a Bible owned by abolitionist Frederick Douglass, as well as his grandfather's Bible.
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The morning before his inauguration, Wes Moore participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial at the Annapolis City Dock to "acknowledge the journey" that led to him becoming the third elected Black governor in US history.
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Wes Moore has sought to undo or revise many of his predecessor's decisions, including the cancellation of the Baltimore Red Line, the withholding of state funding for training abortion care providers, and plans to expand portions of the Capital Beltway and Interstate 270 using high-occupancy toll lanes.
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Wes Moore began announcing nominations for his 26-member cabinet on November 14,2022.
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Wes Moore finished announcing his cabinet nominees on April 12,2023, with the nomination of Sanjay Rai as Secretary for the Maryland Higher Education Commission.
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Wes Moore's nominees have mixed experience in government, social entrepreneurship, and philanthropy.
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Wes Moore holds honorary degrees from Skidmore College, Lincoln University, and the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean.
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Wes Moore is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution; his ancestor Prince Ames served in the Massachusetts Militia in the Revolutionary War.
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Wes Moore is a fan of the Baltimore Ravens, Baltimore Orioles, and New York Knicks.