Jeb Bush wants old acquaintances to be forgot as he mulls a presidential bid.
As of New Year’s Day, the former Florida governor had made a clean break from all his corporate and nonprofit board involvements.
An aide for the Republican told the Washington Post Wednesday night that Bush had resigned all his board memberships to begin 2015 afresh and “to focus on a potential run for President.”
His board breakups included stepping down from the Foundation for Excellence in Education, the nonprofit group Bush founded in 2009 (though as of Thursday, Bush is still listed as the board chairman on the organization’s website).
He was listed as co-chair, along with his sister Doro Bush Koch, of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy in the organization’s 2013 annual report but his name no longer appears on the foundation’s website.
After the Thanksgiving holiday, Bush publicly announced that he would create a leadership PAC in January to “actively explore the possibility of running for President of the United States.”
Given his political pedigree as the son and younger brother of former Presidents, he is considered a likely front-runner among a field of undeclared GOP candidates, but recent news accounts have raised likely conflicts of interests stemming from his private equity and board involvements.
Earlier in December, Bush resigned from the boards of Rayonier forestry company and Tenet Healthcare Corporation. He also left his lucrative post as an adviser at Barclays bank.
