This was originally posted on GrowSmartBusiness.com and is from the GrowSmartBiz Conference held September 29, 2009:

Special Note: Mark R. Warner, U.S. Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia

Mark R. Warner was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2008, and serves on the Senate’s Banking, Budget, Commerce and Rules committees. He served as Governor of Virginia from 2002-2006 after spending 20 years as a business leader in the high-tech industry.

He gave a great speech at the GrowSmartBiz Conference. Check out the video below:

More about Senator Warner Senator Warner was the first member of his family to graduate from college, earning a degree from The George Washington University, thanks to part-time jobs and student loans. He received a law degree from Harvard in 1980.

As a private citizen and philanthropist, Mark Warner helped create the Virginia Health Care Foundation, which has provided health care to more than 600,000 under-served Virginians, and SeniorNavigator.com, a referral network for older Virginians and their caregivers.

As Governor of Virginia, Mark Warner inherited budget shortfalls that ultimately grew to $6 billion. He left office four years later with a budget surplus that allowed Virginia to make the largest single investment in K-12 education in state history, key reinvestments in one of the nation’s best public university systems, and record investments in the clean-up of the Chesapeake Bay.

In 2004, Warner chaired the National Governors Association, and TIME Magazine named him one of “America’s Five Best Governors” a year later. Governor Warner’s bipartisan, results-oriented focus resulted in Virginia being designated as the nation’s “best managed state” and its “best state for business.”

He lives with his wife, Lisa, and three daughters in Alexandria, Virginia.http://warner.senate.gov/