Category Archives: News

Amid Tumult and Setbacks, Fife Symington Is Steady As He Goes

Noozhawk in Santa Barbara recently published an extensive interview piece with Fife Symington. Here’s an excerpt:

… I’m proud of what Ann and I did in public office. We went in and had a program and got it all done. It didn’t end happily — ultimately, it ended happily — but, as you know, there was a hiccup along the way. But interestingly, although public service was something we wanted to do, it wasn’t something we wanted to do permanently. I never really considered it to be, well, this is the achievement of a lifetime.

For the rest of the interview, click here.

Fife Symington in Phoenix Magazine: “Comeback Kid”

Phoenix Magazine profiled Fife Symington in their September 2007 issue. Here’s a snippet:

    “‘So many wonderful things have happened to me since I left office… that I half-kiddingly say to friends that I was saved,’ he says. ‘There’s a pivotal thing that happens in a crisis like that. It either destroys you or changes you for the better, and I think – well, I know – the latter is the case with me.'”

Here is page 1 of the article and here is page 2. You can also find the article on pages 35 and 36 in the magazine.

Ex-Governor Pursues New Ventures

Marking the 10th anniversary since leaving office, Fife Symington recently gave an interview with the Arizona Republic that discusses his activities over the past several years. Here’s an excerpt:

Symington never went far from the Esplanade, often using the Ritz dining room for meetings with visiting dignitaries, friends and business associates. Franco’s opened on the ground floor of the growing Esplanade in 2003, with Symington as pastry chef. Attired in a white chef’s smock, he knocked out tiramisus and his signature chocolate Governor’s Cake in the location where he had headquartered his real-estate empire years earlier.

Today, Symington maintains offices there with his four partners in the Symington Private Equity Group. Ventures include the Symington Group, a political consultancy that consists of himself and partner Camilla Strongin; various early forays into solar projects, a technology he finds promising despite initial reservations; and venture-capital investments. He has what he calls a “tag-along interest” in the Ruth’s Chris and Macaroni Grill franchises in Hawaii, and a hospital payment program operates out of a small room in the suite of Symington offices.

For the rest of the article, click here.

Fife Symington Elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden

clippingFife Symington has been elected chairman of the board of trustees of the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden. A garden trustee since 2004, he previously served as vice chairman.

Elected governor of Arizona in 1991, and re-elected in 1994, Mr. Symington signed criminal justice measures into law, including a truth-in-sentencing provision that eliminates parole and mandates that convicts serve no less than 85 percent of their sentence.

Click on the above picture to read more.