Mitt Romney was in an industry.
Willard Mitt Romney ( born March 12 , 1947 ) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and the Republican Party 's nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 election . Romney entered the management consulting industry , and in 1977 secured a position at Bain & Company . In 1984 , he co-founded and led the spin-off company Bain Capital , a highly profitable private equity investment firm that became one of the largest of its kind in the nation .