John Lakian

John Lakian is a wealthy businessman and former candidate for governor of Massachusetts. He has founded several businesses, and served on the board on many others. He had an unsuccessful run for governor that resulted in a high profile lawsuit in 1982, and an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 1994. Lakian served in Vietnam and was awarded a Bronze Star.

Businessman
Lakian is the founder and current board chairman of the Fort Hill Group, Inc., an investment banking and venture capital firm based in New York City. In 1986, he launched McKinley and Allsopp, a brokerage firm that provides investment-banking services. His financial service companies have served a number of high-profile Wall Street firms, including Paine Webber, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Solomon Smith Barney.

In 1994, Lakian led a group that founded First New England Dental, a dental practice holding company in New England. The Company attempted a public offering in 1997, but was unsuccessful and filed for bankruptcy the following year.

Lakian is the current CEO of Living Independently Group, a company which develops monitoring system to assist in the care of senior citizens. He has served on the boards of Merchants Capital, Mr. Coffee, JoS. A. Bank Clothiers, Peoples Department Stores, Apparel Marketing Corporation, FNEDC, Sheffield Medical Technologies, The Molloy Group, and Standard Life of Indiana.

Politician
In 1982, John Lakian ran for the Republican party nomination for governor. He was the early favorite after securing the party's endorsement. Lakian spent nearly $1 million on his failed bid. After a The Boston Globe story revealed that he had made several exaggerations about his background, he was forced to publicly confess and lost the nomination to John W. Sears. Supporters blamed the loss on The Boston Globe, claiming it had unfairly defamed Lakian.

As a result, Lakian sued The Globe for libel, claiming $50 million in damages. The court case drew national media attention and eventually resulted in The Globe being cleared of all charges. The jury found that the article contained some false information, but awarded no judgment, stating that Lakian had failed to prove any actual harm. Lakian appealed and the case was finally resolved in 1987 when the Massachusetts Supreme Court rejected the appeal.

Lakian returned to politics in 1994 to challenge Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. Lakian outspent his rival, but was unable to overcome his past and Romney won the nomination.

Personal life
John Lakian attended Boston University and served as a lieutenant in the United States Army during the Vietnam war. He was awarded a Bronze Star with a "V" for valor for his combat operations.