Matt Bevin

Matthew Griswold "Matt" Bevin (born January 9, 1967) is an American businessman who has served as the President of Bevin Brothers Manufacturing Company since 2011. Bevin is a Republican candidate and primary challenger to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky's 2014 Senate election.

Early life and education
Bevin grew up in the rural town of Shelburne, New Hampshire, the second of six children, born into a family that has managed the Bevin Brothers Manufacturing Company since its founding in 1832. Bevin's father worked at a wood mill, and the family lived in a small farmhouse with one bathroom and no central heat. However, Bevin's family was still able to send him to Gould Academy, a private high school in Bethel, Maine. Bevin then attended Washington and Lee University on an ROTC scholarship, graduating in 1989 with a major in East Asian Studies. Bevin then spent four years on active duty as an officer in the United States Army with primary responsibilities as the 5th Mechanized Infantry Division Artillery's counterfire officer. He eventually rose to the rank of Captain.

Business career
Bevin worked as a financial consultant for SEI Investments Company in Pennsylvania and Boston, then served as a vice president with Putnam Investments. In 1999, Bevin moved to Kentucky to work with National Asset Management, being offered a stake in the firm to take the job. In 2003, Bevin founded Integrity Asset Management, which he later sold in 2011 to Munder Capital Management. In 2011, Bevin became the President of Bevin Brothers Manufacturing Company, a bell manufacturing company that had been in the Bevin family for generations. Bevin is also a partner at Waycross Partners, an investment management firm.

Political career
Bevin's fellow partner at Waycross, Chris Derry, founded the conservative-leaning Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions. Bevin has contributed money to Rand Paul, Mitt Romney, Republican House candidate Todd Lally, and the Republican Party of Kentucky. Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions

2014 U.S. Senate campaign
Bevin is running in Kentucky's 2014 Senate election in the Republican primary for the seat currently held by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a five-term incumbent. He claims he is running because he does not believe that McConnell is conservative enough. Bevin has been endorsed by the conservative Madison Project, the Senate Conservative Fund, and conservative talk radio host Mark Levin and entrepreneur Glenn Beck.

Rand Paul has called revelations that Bevin claimed benefits for his company from the 2008 bank bailout damaging to his credibility. Bevin has said that he had merely documented the facts that he had benefited from the Troubled Asset Relief Program as required by law, and that he had never personally supported the program.

Personal life
Bevin and his wife Glenna have nine children, four of them adopted from Ethiopia.