Blair Hull

Overview
Founder of The Hull Group (formerly known as the Hull Trading Company), an international electronic trading company, and current Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Matlock Capital, a Chicago investment firm focusing on financial engineering, systems, and investment. . The Hull Group was sold in 1999 to Goldman, Sachs, and Co. Hull is a Vietnam War veteran, was a high school math and physics teacher, and served on the national board of NARAL. Hull began making his fortune after leaving grad school through winning at BlackJack, winning $25,000 which he then used to work on the floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange (PSE).

Blair Hull is primarily known for his involvement in the 2004 Democratic Primary election. Though a February CBS2/WBBM poll by SurveyUSA showed him leading 29% to 19% by closest challengers Barack Obama and Dan Hynes, when newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, began reporting on his divorce files, claiming he had abused his wife, his support plummeted and he finished on March 16th with just 10% of the vote. As the Claremont Institute concluded, pressure from journalists and opposing candidates forced him to release his divorce records.

Anita Dunn, who worked on Barack Obama's campaign and held a White House position, formerly worked on Hull's campaign as a media strategist. Blair Hull was identified as 'Candidate C' in the famous Blagojevich scandal to sell Barack Obama's former Senate seat.

Political Positions
Mr. Hull is Pro-Choice, supports Affirmative Action, opposes the Death Penalty, supports universal health care, and opposes privatization of Social Security. He also opposes tax cuts for the wealthy.

Current Associations

 * Partner in the Democracy Alliance
 * Serves on the Board of Directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs
 * Member of the Board of Trustees for the University of California Santa Barbara Foundation

Past Associations

 * Served on National Board of Directors for NARAL
 * 1992-1998: Served on Board of the Options Clearing Corporation
 * 1988-1990: Served on Board of Directors for Chicago Board Options Exchange

Political Finances
From 1993-2002, Blair Hull gave $757,000 to Illinois political candidates, nearly all of it to Democrats.

Contributions can also be seen at the Huffington Post's Hull Campaign Contributions search page, powered by FundRace2008.

Education

 * Bachelor of Arts degree from University of California, Santa Barbara
 * Master of Business Administration degree from Santa Clara University (1967-1969)
 * Graduated from Harvard OPM program