Bob Ely

Robert Moulton "Bob" Ely (born 1958) is an American entrepreneur and former investment banker. He challenged President Barack Obama in several primaries for the Democratic Party's 2012 presidential nomination.

Early life

Ely was born in Connecticut in 1958 to Harriet and John Ingraham Ely. His mother, the daughter of the New Haven Register and Journal Courier owner John Day Jackson was also a newspaper owner. Ely's father was a lawyer and partner at the firm Wiggin & Dana.

Ely attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study engineering, but dropped out and transferred to Yale University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in History upon graduation in 1980. He recounted that while at Yale, "my academic achievements and alcohol consumption would have embarrassed [George] W. [Bush]." In 1983, Ely married freelance illustrator Alice Fairchild Moulton, and both assumed the last name Moulton-Ely.

Career

After graduating from Yale, Ely moved to Chicago, Illinois. He was initially unemployed, but found work with Nuveen Investments. For an 18-year period as an investment banker, he also worked at Merrill Lynch and served as managing director at Dillon, Read & Co., which was later taken over by UBS.