Former Governor Buddy Roemer will speak at Rotary | Events

Former Governor and former Presidential Candidate Buddy Roemer will be the guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge on Wednesday, Oct.  3. The meeting is held at noon at Boudreaux's, 2647 Government Street.

Roemer was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on October 4, 1943, and is one of five children raised by his parents on a cotton and cattle farm in North Louisiana.

He graduated from Bossier High School (1960), Harvard College (1964 in Economics) and Harvard Business School (1967 with an MBA in Finance), and came back to Louisiana to form Innovative Data Systems (Computer software) and Red River Valley Bank.

In 1973 he was elected a delegate to re-write the Louisiana Constitution. In 1980, Buddy was elected to the U.S. Congress from Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District. Roemer served on the Banking, Public Works, and Small Business Committees of the House during his 8-years in Congress. Roemer also served as a leader of the Conservative Democrats (Boll Weevils) in the U.S. House during the Reagan Presidency.

In 1987, Roemer was elected as Governor of Louisiana and served from 1988 to 1992. While Governor, he worked to create jobs, clean up the environment, improve education, rebuild highways, and set high ethical standards for public servants.

After being defeated in his re-election bid by Governor Edwin Edwards and David Duke in 1991, Roemer was selected a Kennedy Fellow at Harvard University, teaching Undergraduates and graduate students from the Law, Business, and Kennedy Schools on the subject of American Competitiveness.

In 1993, Roemer started The Sterling Group, a Louisiana company facilitating trade among and between companies in Mexico, Brazil, China, Taiwan, South Korea and Louisiana.

In 1998, Roemer joined with others to organize, fund, and found The Business Bank in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This community bank was structured through a new business model emphasizing speed, focus, flexible, and friendly business banking, and proved to be an outstanding success. With the death of his major partner in late 2003, Roemer sold the bank in the fall of 2004 at a significant profit for all investors.

Roemer founded The Business First Bank in Baton Rouge in 2006 and is Chairman Emeritus of the $650 million business bank serving business clients throughout Louisiana.  The bank is unique, insured by the FDIC, profitable, received no bailout from the Federal Government, and operates on the four principles of success in the 21st Century: FAST, FOCUSED, FLEXIBLE, and FRIENDLY.

Roemer is Chairman of the RRM and Company Equity Bank headquartered in Baton Rouge, but operating throughout the s