Michael Jingozian

Michael Paul Jingozian (born April 30, 1961) is an American entrepreneur and political activist who served as vice chairman of the Libertarian Party from 2008 to 2010.^[1][2] He was a candidate for the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party. Jingozian currently serves on the board of directors of the Free and Equal Elections Foundation,^[3] a non-partisan, nonprofit public policy advocacy group committed to election reform and protecting ballot-access laws in the U.S. He is also the founder and CEO of AngelVision Technologies, a marketing and sales promotion company, headquartered in Portland, Oregon.^[4] In 2011, the American Marketing Association of Oregon honored Jingozian as Marketer of the Year and presented him with the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award.^[5]

2008 Presidential campaign

Jingozian declared his candidacy for the Libertarian Party presidential nomination in October 2006. Although he had never held public office, Jingozian sought to leverage his skills as a successful marketing-communications entrepreneur to deliver his campaign messages.^[6] An article in CNN Money magazine cited his effectiveness at getting through to the masses.^[7] Jingozian’s campaign proposals included reorganizing the U.S. military, reforming election laws and drug laws, eliminating the Department of Homeland Security, abolishing the Patriot Act, and establishing greater transparency and accountability in government.^[7] One of his recurring campaign themes was that practical and viable measures existed to solve America’s problems, but such solutions were blocked at every turn by professional politicians and bureaucrats.

2008 Libertarian National Convention

The 2008 Libertarian National Convention was held in May at the Sheraton Hotel in Denver, Colorado.^[8] Jingozian received 23 delegate votes on the first ballot, which placed him seventh in a field of 11 candidates.^[9] Jingozian withdrew his candidacy and asked his delegates to switch their allegiance to former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel. Jingozian nominated Gravel himself.^[10]

Bob Barr ultimately won the Libertarian Party presidential nomination on the sixth ballot.^[9] The convention delegates chose Wayne Allyn Root as the ticket’s vice-presidential candidate. Barr and Root received 0.4 percent of the national popular vote— 523,686 votes out of 131,257,328 total votes cast—in the 2008 presidential election.^[11]

Post-2008 activities

Jingozian continues to serve as CEO of AngelVision, which he founded in 2001.^[4] The company’s signature product is the Impact Movie, an animated multimedia short that is utilized worldwide as a sales promotion tool.^[12] Since 2006, AngelVision has received more than 250 national and international awards for marketing, management, and innovation.^[13] AngelVision has appeared on the Inc. magazine list of fastest-growing private U.S. companies for five consecutive years: 2007,^[14] 2008,^[15] 2009,^[16] 2010,^[17] and 2011.

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