{{Short description|Wall Street executive (b. 1947)}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Bruce Lisman |birth_date = {{birth year and age|1947|7}} |birth_place = Burlington, Vermont, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = |party = Republican |alma_mater = University of Vermont }} '''Bruce Lisman''' (born July 1947)<ref>{{cite web | title=BRUCE MICHAEL LISMAN - NEW YORK - INVESTMENT BROKER | website=Check Company | date=7 May 1992 | url=http://www.checkcompany.co.uk/director/1219531/BRUCE-MICHAEL-LISMAN | accessdate=21 May 2016}}</ref> is a retired Wall Street executive and was a Republican candidate for Vermont Governor in 2016.<ref name="WPTZ">{{cite web | last=Ledbetter | first=Stewart | title=Bruce Lisman begins Republican bid for governor of Vermont | website=WPTZ | date=20 October 2015 | url=http://www.wptz.com/news/bruce-lisman-formally-kicks-off-campaign-for-governor-of-vermont/35919138 | accessdate=21 May 2016}}</ref>

==Financial career== Lisman was born in Burlington, Vermont and attended the University of Vermont. He moved to New York City and entered the financial sector after graduating in 1969.<ref name="VTdigger2015">{{cite web | last=Craven | first=Jasper | last2=True | first2=Morgan | title=Lisman lays out gubernatorial campaign themes | website=VTDigger | date=1 September 2015 | url=http://vtdigger.org/2015/09/01/lisman-makes-2016-republican-gubernatorial-bid-official/ | accessdate=21 May 2016}}</ref> Early in his career he was an analyst covering banking companies, and later Director of Global Research at Lehman Brothers. He became a Senior Research Managing Director at Bear Stearns Companies in 1984, and rose to Co-Head of Global Equities at Bear Stearns in 2006. In the 2000s, he also held positions at JPMorgan, JPMorgan Chase, and National Life Group.<ref name="Bloomberg">{{cite web|title=Bruce M. Lisman: Executive Profile and Biography|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=1347401&privcapId=301053030|website=Bloomberg Businessweek|accessdate=21 May 2016}}</ref> He continues to serve on a range of executive boards around Vermont.<ref name="Bloomberg"/>

Lisman has stated that his responsibilities as a Bear Stearns executive were not connected to the financial meltdown that led to the failure and bailout of the company during the 2008 financial crisis.<ref name="WPTZ" />

==Politics== In 2011, Lisman founded Campaign for Vermont, a campaign group "advocating for a more prosperous state."<ref name="Bromage">{{cite web | last=Bromage | first=Andy | title=What Is Bruce Lisman Up To?| website=Seven Days | date=29 February 2012 | url=http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/what-is-bruce-lisman-up-to/Content?oid=2183684 | accessdate=21 May 2016}}</ref> The group is officially nonpartisan, and advocates limiting state budget growth and reforming education funding, and criticized Governor Peter Shumlin's plans for single-payer healthcare.<ref name="Bromage"/> Lisman donated at least $26,000 to the Vermont Republican Party between 2010 and 2014 but none, according to records, to the Vermont Democratic Party; this led to complaints that the group was violating campaign finance law by promoting a Republican agenda, with one such complaint dismissed by Democratic then-Attorney General Bill Sorrell in 2012.<ref name="Hirschfeld 2014">{{cite web | last=Hirschfeld | first=Peter | title=Campaign For Vermont's Bruce Lisman Digs Deep For Vt. GOP | website=Vermont Public Radio | date=24 February 2014 | url=http://digital.vpr.net/post/campaign-vermonts-bruce-lisman-digs-deep-vt-gop | accessdate=21 May 2016}}</ref> Lisman, who put over $1 million of his own money into the campaign, repeatedly denied holding any of his own political ambitions, and insisted that Campaign for Vermont was nonpartisan.<ref name="Hirschfeld 2014"/>

In October 2015, Lisman announced his "outsider" candidacy for Vermont governor as a Republican.<ref name="Dobbs 2015">{{cite web | last=Dobbs | first=Taylor | title=Lisman Launches Outsider Campaign For Governor | website=Vermont Public Radio | date=19 October 2015 | url=http://digital.vpr.net/post/lisman-launches-outsider-campaign-governor | accessdate=21 May 2016}}</ref> His platform included a two-year moratorium on new industrial renewable energy projects; repealing the recently passed Act 46, which he said would lead to "mandatory consolidation of our schools"; replacing Vermont Health Connect with a federal health care exchange; and capping state budget growth at 2 percent for three years.<ref name="Dobbs 2015"/><ref name="WPTZ" /> Lisman repeatedly declined to say whether or not he supports presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, unlike his rival, Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott, who does not support Trump.<ref name="Johnson 2016">{{cite web | last=Johnson | first=Mark | title=At forum, Lisman is the only gubernatorial candidate who doesn't disavow Trump | website=VTDigger | date=14 May 2016 | url=https://vtdigger.org/2016/05/14/at-forum-lisman-says/ | accessdate=21 May 2016}}</ref><ref name="Duck">{{cite web | last=Heintz | first=Paul | title=Blowing in the Wind: A Dunne Debacle Over Renewable Siting | website=Seven Days | date=3 August 2016 | url=http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/blowing-in-the-wind-a-dunne-debacle-over-renewable-siting/Content?oid=3528818 | accessdate=11 August 2016}}</ref>

Lisman's campaign attacked Scott for being too closely connected to outgoing Democratic governor Peter Shumlin and for "plagiarizing" Lisman's ideas, and linked Scott to what it called the "failures" of the Vermont Health Connect insurance platform and the school redistricting Act 46.<ref name="negative?">{{cite web | title=Are some Vt. campaigns going negative? | last=Ogerman | first=Josh | publisher=Times Argus | date=5 June 2016 | url=http://www.timesargus.com/article/20160605/NEWS01/160609788 | access-date=2 July 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160607051105/http://www.timesargus.com/article/20160605/NEWS01/160609788# | archive-date=2016-06-07 | url-status=dead | df= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Campaign strategies taking shape | publisher=Times Argus | date=26 June 2016 | url=http://www.timesargus.com/article/20160626/NEWS03/160629724/0/D | accessdate=2 July 2016 | archive-date=10 August 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810084812/http://www.timesargus.com/article/20160626/NEWS03/160629724/0/D | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Hallenbeck | first=Terri | title=Lisman, Scott Campaigns Clash Over New Flier| website=Seven Days | date=30 May 2016 | url=http://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2016/05/30/lisman-scott-campaigns-clash-over-new-flier | accessdate=2 July 2016}}</ref> Such attacks are unusual in Vermont politics.<ref name="negative?" /> Similar ads were aired by a Super PAC funded by some of Lisman's former Bear Stearns colleagues.<ref>{{cite web | last=Heintz | first=Paul | title=Former Bear Stearns Execs Bankroll Lisman Super PAC | website=Seven Days | date=4 August 2016 | url=http://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2016/08/04/former-bear-stearns-execs-bankroll-lisman-super-pac | accessdate=6 August 2016}}</ref>

Scott won the election by over 20 percentage points.<ref name="Burbank">{{cite web | last=Burbank | first=April | title=Phil Scott claims GOP primary victory for governor | website=Burlington Free Press | date=9 August 2016 | url=http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/politics/2016/08/09/phil-scott-claims-gop-primary-victory-governor/88292810/ | accessdate=10 August 2016}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lisman, Bruce}} Category:1947 births Category:American financiers Category:Living people Category:University of Vermont alumni Category:Vermont Republicans Category:Businesspeople from Vermont Category:JPMorgan Chase people Category:Bear Stearns people