Former House Speaker Paul Ryan has joined a private equity firm founded by Mitt Romney’s son, the company announced Wednesday.
Ryan, who served in Congress for two decades and was speaker from 2015 to 2019, joined Solamere Capital as a partner, company officials said Wednesday.
Ryan ran as Romney’s vice presidential running mate in the duo’s unsuccessful 2012 White House bid. Romney is now a U.S. senator representing Utah.
Solamere was founded in 2008 by Romney’s son, Tagg Romney, along with Eric Scheuermann and Spencer Zwick.
The firm makes direct investments in operating companies and partners with other private equity and venture capital investors.
Ryan chaired the House tax-writing panel, the Ways and Means Committee, before taking the speaker’s gavel. He helped write and pass the Republican Party’s major tax cut law, which lowered the top corporate rate from 35% to 21%.
Ryan left Congress in 2019 to spend more time in Wisconsin with his three children. He has since served as a public policy fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
“For two decades in Congress, I advocated for policies that would create jobs, increase economic growth, and support workers and businesses,” Ryan said in a statement. “I fought to improve free markets and expand the free enterprise system so more people could realize their version of the American Dream. Now, as a Partner at Solamere, I’m excited to put into practice the values that I have long preached.”
Zwick said Ryan “understands the intersections between public policy and private industry better than anyone.”
Ryan, company officials said, “will work with Solamere’s team to help CEOs and industry leaders pool both their capital and networks to add value to private investment opportunities.”
Ryan issued a Jan. 4 statement calling on the GOP to forgo contesting the certification of President Biden’s election victory, arguing the move “would sow doubt” on Biden’s win.
