We know Mary Pat Foster as the wife of New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. Her husband of 28-years is currently in hot water as the 52-year-old Governor has been cleared from any wrongdoing in the Bridge scandal, however many people feel it is not a valid absolution since he was cleared by his own lawyers. He also went on exclusive interview with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer, and said that former aides were “inexplicably stupid” when they allegedly shut down lanes of busy George Washington Bridge and flooded a New Jersey town with traffic.
The Republican is seen notably distraught during the interview and says to Sawyer
“You don’t sleep, you don’t eat… you struggle. You struggle,” “It’s been a very, very tough time professionally”
Luckily for him, Mary Pat is always by his side. Christie often boasts that his spouse is the reason he could give up his career as a lawyer and enter politics.
Most typical governors’ wives concentrate on parenting and volunteer work but Mary Pat is the main earner in this picture perfect family. Born in Paoli, Pennsylvania, Mrs. Christie is the ninth of 10 children.
Mary Pat and Chris met at the University of Delaware when Chris was a sophomore and Mary Pat was a freshman. Because she was “smart and articulate”, Christie asked her in spring 1983 to run as secretary on his ticket for president of the student body. They started dating in the winter of 1984 and tied the knot in 1986.
Mary Pat started as an engineering major but later switched to finance.
Mary Pat is often described as a super mom, and she certainly is, juggling her career while being the mom of the couple’s four children; two sons and two daughters. Andrew, Sarah, Patrick and Bridget.
By 1989 she started handling institutional sales at Jefferies and Co. She was drawn to bond trading, a niche among securities, commodities and financial-services sales –a male-dominated industry.
She considered retirement after the birth of the couple’s fourth child in 2003 but after being away for 14 months she was persuaded to return by Michael Meyer, co-head of sales and trading at Seaport.
Now, the New Jersey first lady is a managing director at Angelo Gordon & Co., where she works full time on strategic planning and marketing, focusing on bank debt and distressed funds. Previously in 2011, she worked at Cantor Fitzgerald LP, where she was a part-time vice president in Summit, New Jersey.
Some of her most notable work is overseeing a $33 million Hurricane Sandy charity. The former body student president set up the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund as a nonprofit organization and mined bond-desk contacts, plus Democratic and Republican circles and community leaders, for board members. She recruited U2 singer Bono and her husband’s hero, New Jersey native musician Bruce Springsteen, to drum up contributions, and begged for donated office space and ads.
