Ranking: 10
Total contributions to super PACs: $2.63 million*
- $1.1 million to Club for Growth Action (pro tea party)
- $1 million to Restore Our Future (pro Romney)
- $500,000 to American Crossroads (pro Republican)
Notable federal hard and soft money and 527 contributions:
- $30,800 to the Republican National Committee
- $30,400 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee
- $25,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee
- $5,000 to former 2012 presidential candidate Rick Perry
Notable state-level contributions:
- $100,000 to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker during the recall election
- $50,000 to the Indiana gubernatorial campaign of Republican Rep. Mike Pence
Corporate name: J.W. Childs Associates
Corporate subsidiaries: None found.
Total spent on lobbying (2007-2011): None found.
Biography:
John Childs, 70, is CEO and board chairman of J.W. Childs, a private equity firm based in Boston, Mass. He spends much of his time in Florida, where he has a home in Vero Beach.
Childs is a pioneer of the art of the leveraged buyout, where a usually public company is paid for with borrowed money and taken private, often to the detriment of its workers. He mastered LBOs at Thomas H. Lee Company (THL), one of the leaders in LBOs, in the late 1980s to mid-1990s. He spearheaded what is considered one of the most successful LBOs in history with THL’s acquisition of Snapple, which it bought for $135 million and flipped for $1.7 billion, according to Boston Magazine.
In 1995, Childs founded his “private equity” firm, the new name for LBO specialists. J.W. Childs has overseen buyouts of NutraSweet, Sunny Delight Beverages Co. and Brookstone, according to the firm’s website.
Before THL, Childs spent 17 years as an executive at Prudential Insurance Company of America, where he became senior managing director and oversaw Prudential’s $77 billion fixed income portfolio, including investments in leveraged buyouts, his profile says.
Boston Magazine says Childs is known as the “Republican ATM” for his generous contributions to Republican causes — nearly $3.7 million to federal candidates since 2008.
Childs is on the board of directors of Club for Growth, a free-market organization with several iterations. Club for Growth’s nonprofit and super PAC, Club for Growth Action, have spent more than $10 million this election supporting tea party-aligned candidates.
Childs supports wetlands conservation, volunteering as president of Wetlands Americas Trust, which provides the financial support for Ducks Unlimited, a Florida-based nonprofit that conserves and restores wetland habitat for waterfowl.
Last updated: July 26, 2012
*2011-2012 election cycle; source, Federal Election Commission.