NAME: Jim Nicholson.
AGE-BIRTH DATE: 69; Feb. 4, 1938.
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree, U.S. Military Academy; master’s degree in public policy, Columbia University; law degree, University of Denver.
EXPERIENCE: Eight years as a paratrooper and Army Ranger in Vietnam, earning Bronze Star Medal; 22 years in the Army Reserve, retiring with rank of full colonel; practiced law with firm in Denver until 1978; residential real estate developer with Nicholson Enterprises Inc. and Renaissance Homes; committeeman from Colorado to the Republican National Committee, 1986-1993; RNC vice chairman, 1993-1997; RNC chairman, 1997-2001; inducted as a Knight in the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, one of the highest awards for Roman Catholics, 1999; U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Vatican City in Rome, 2001-2004; Veterans Affairs secretary, 2004-present.
FAMILY: Married, three children.
QUOTE: “The American people can feel very good about the health care system that their VA is providing to veterans. But if there is a case where a veteran gets lost in the system, or suffers anxiety or their family does as a result of something we’re not doing, that is unacceptable.” —March 2007.
