May 23–Former acting governor Jane Swift, entering the venture capital world that Mitt Romney left to run for her office, has taken a job at Arcadia Partners, a Boston-based firm that invests infor-profit training and education companies.
Swift, 38, began work as a special general partner at the firm on Monday. She is expected to divide her time between Boston and her Williamstown home, said her spokesman, Jason Kauppi.
Swift has also joined the lucrative speaking circuit, offering to give paid speeches to corporations and other groups. She intends to draw on her unusual political career to address how to balance work and family responsibilities, among other topics.
Kauppi said she will be represented by Greater Talent Network Inc., a New York-based speaker’s bureau, but he would not say how much she would be paid per speech.
At Arcadia, Swift is expected to be the “resident expert on education policy and funding, both nationally and in the states,” Kauppi said. He would not disclose Swift’s salary.
Arcadia directed all questions to Kauppi, but in a written statement, firm cofounder Liam S. Donohue said, “Governor Swift, with her outstanding commitment to education, experience working with educators and her success in improving Massachusetts public schools, is a tremendous addition to our team.”
The firm, founded in 1998, invests in more than a dozen companies that provide Internet and other educational services mostly to private clients, including English as a Foreign Language courses, Internet-based business management courses, and online community services for school teachers. According to its website, it has a capital base of $50 million.
The hiring of Swift, who took a keen interest in workforce training while governor, may signal the venture capital firm’s wish to expand into the public realm of K through 12 education. So far, the firm has kept its distance from the more controversial for-profit education companies that have run some charter schools.
“She will be working with the companies in the portfolio and looking for potential new investments,” Kauppi said. “She brings the expertise of having been legislator and governor to spot trends, but also to spot pitfalls. It might look like something is worth investing in, but in the long run, it might not be a good idea.”
Swift also will examine the business plans and projections of companies in which Arcadia invests, assessing whether their predictions of growth are realistic, he said. Her work for the company will not include lobbying in Massachusetts, Kauppi said.
Since she decided against a run to retain her office more than a year ago, much speculation has attended Swift’s plans. At one point, she was rumored to have a book about her tenure as acting governor in the works. She has consistently deflected inquiries about her plans, though several times she said she would like to be involved somehow in education.
Romney, for whom she stepped aside, once led venture capital firm Bain Capital, and maintains a large stake in the company.
One of Swift’s predecessors, William F. Weld, has also ended up in a venture capital firm specializing in education companies. In 2000, Weld left his law firm to become a partner in Leeds Weld & Co., which invests in for-profit schools and Internet education companies.
The sector is still growing rapidly, said Chris Gabrieli, a venture capitalist who ran opposite the Romney ticket for lieutenant governor last year.
“It’s a big growth industry because companies and individuals are spending more and more on skills,” he said. “Someone who understands how state governments work, and education reform, and can pick up the phone and anywhere in the country get access, I can see where somebody can see that would be valuable.”
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