The Template Temple

Texas, the Lone Star State, is the state of origin for some of America’s most significant and powerful political figures. In addition to Texan former Presidents Lyndon Johnson, the senior George H. Bush and George W. Bush, another political figure who has dedicated his life to improving the welfare of Texans is Ben Barnes, politician, who has remained active in state politics after ending his remarkably long political career in 1973.

Ben Barnes is proud of the fact that he is a homegrown Texan. Born in 1938 as the son of a peanut farmer from De Leon, Ben Barnes, politician, attended the University of Texas for his undergraduate studies and subsequently pursued law at Lubbock’s Texas Tech. While enrolled in college, he worked for the Texas State Health Department and discovered corruption, which eventually led to the indictment of the State Health Commissioner. After serving a stint as legislator since 1960 in his early 20s, Ben Barnes, politician, won as Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1969 and served until 1973.

During his term, the University of Texas and Texas A&M emerged in the top five universities in the country and teachers’ salaries had increases. Post political career, Ben Barnes busies himself by being an active lobbyist and consultant. In addition to this, he also spends his time at Entrecorp, a consulting firm he founded in 1989.

Not all Indians have a claim to fame like Naveen Jain, one of India’s most recognized personalities in “techno-preneurship.” Naveen Jain was born in September 1959 in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. He is the son of a public works civil engineer. Following in his father’s footsteps, he took up an engineering course at the Indian Institute of Technology – Roorkee from 1975 to 1979. After graduating, he attended XLRI Jamshedpur for his MBA, which he earned in 1982. He came to the United States that year to work at New Jersey. Years later, he married Anu Jain. In 1989, Naveen Jain went to California to work for Microsoft Corporation, where he eventually rose to a senior position. During his seven years with Microsoft, Jain passed on several notable legacies, such as credit for bringing about The Microsoft Network, later called MSN. Out of Microsoft, Naveen Jain founded his own venture in March 1996 called InfoSpace. He bowed out of the company leadership in 2002, leaving behind a renowned provider of online directories and mobile entertainment. He left the company as one of the richest persons who benefitted from the 1990s dotcom boom. He also brought with him honors like being named to Red Herring’s list of the Top 20 Entrepreneurs and Information Week’s list of the Six People Who Will Change the Net. Serial businessman as he is, Naveen Jain launched another company, Intelius, in 2003. Intellius is an info-commerce company, which sells background information that can be used for consumer protection and employment screening, among others. Ernst & Young twice recognized the founder for its Entrepreneur of the Year awards. Intelius itself won the Stevie Award for Best New Company, while its product called IDWatch clinched the WSA Industry Achievement Award.