Jim Hodges

James Hovis Hodges is an American businessman and politician who served as the 114th Governor of South Carolina from 1999 to 2003. Hodges is the only Democrat to serve as governor since 1987.

Governor Hodges served as a national co-chair of the Obama for President Campaign in 2008, and regularly advises political and business leaders on a wide range of state, regional and national policy issues.

As governor of South Carolina, he led efforts to improve the state's education system, including establishing the education lottery that is credited with providing more than 100,000 scholarships. He is also responsible for funding "First Steps," a public-private preschool readiness program. Under his leadership, the South Carolina Department of Commerce achieved record breaking economic development results. Since 2003, he has been the CEO of Hodges Consulting, a business, government relations, and economic development consulting firm.

Jim received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of South Carolina, South Carolina State University, The Citadel, Winthrop University and Francis Marion University. While earning his law degree at the University of South Carolina, he was a member of the mock trial team and received the Compleat Lawyer Silver Medallion. As an undergraduate, he was named Outstanding Senior in Economics.