Bill Black (politician)

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For other uses, see Bill Black (disambiguation).

William "Bill" Black (Born 1950 in Halifax, Nova Scotia) is a businessman and a politician from Nova Scotia. He ran in the Leadership race for the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Party in 2006, finishing second to Rodney J. MacDonald.

He was recognized as the candidate of ideas, which were often attacked by his more politically-experienced, but less-specific, opponents. Prior to announcing his candidacy, he won the Halifax Citadel nomination to be the Tory candidate for the next election. He lost the election to NDP candidate Leonard Preyra.

Black graduated from Dalhousie University with two degrees at age 19, and then went on to complete his professional training in 1974. A brilliant student, his mother wanted him to study medicine, but he instead started working for Maritime Life, a company that was co-founded by his great-grandfather, The Hon. William Anderson Black, in 1922.

Bill Black entered senior management at 22, and eventually became President and CEO. During his nine years as President, the Company saw continuous expansion and record profits with the number of jobs in Halifax more than doubling to over 1100.

Under his leadership, Maritime Life gained a solid reputation for employee relations and appearing every year among the leaders in the “Report on Business” list of top 50 employers in Canada. When Maritime's parent company, Hancock, was purchased by Manulife, Black resigned rather than move to Ontario.

He served as Chairman of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce in 1995. He chaired a summit on the future of economic development in Halifax, Bill served on the board of the IWK Health Centre – including two years as Chairman. Currently, he serves on the boards of Neptune Theatre and Dalhousie University.

He and Lorraine have been married for 29 years. Their daughter Renée works for Intrawest, a resort and travel company in Vancouver, son Anthony is an actor and director in Halifax, and son Andrew studied to become a teacher, also in Halifax.