Richard Lynn "Rick" Scott is an American politician and businessman presently serving as the 45th Governor of Florida since January 2011. A member of Republican Party of Florida, he is serving as Governor for consecutive two terms as he was re-elected for a second term in 2014. He is a noted businessman who served the United States Navy before commencing a career in business and later in politics. He remained a partner in Johnson & Swanson, a law firm in Dallas. In the late 1980s he along with two partners set up ‘Columbia Hospital Corporation’ that in a couple of years merged with ‘Hospital Corporation of America’ to become ‘Columbia/HCA’, which with time emerged as the biggest company in America in the private for-profit health care sector. His success as an entrepreneur fetched him awards such as Silver Award for CEO of the Year from ‘Financial World’ magazine and ‘Second Century Award for Excellence in Health Care’ from Columbia University, School of Nursing, both in 1995. In June 1996, ‘Time Magazine’ mentioned Scott among the 25 Most Influential People of America. In the late 1990s, while ‘Columbia/HCA’ was shrouded in a controversy, Scott put down his papers as Chief Executive and later endeavoured as a venture capitalist. In 2010 he declared his intent to run in the gubernatorial election in Florida and beat Democrat Alex Sink in a narrow contest in the general election on November 2, 2010, to succeed Charlie Crist as the new Governor of Florida. He confronted Crist and others in the 2014 gubernatorial election for a second term.
