John Rakolta

Rakolta received his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Marquette University in 1970 and then studied smaller company management at the Harvard Business School.[6]

All four of Rakolta's grandparents were immigrants from Romania.[7][8] He was - until he assumed office of US Ambassador to the UAE - the Honorary-Consul General[9] for Romania in Detroit.

Rakolta's father, John Rakolta Sr. (1923–2003), was the head of Walbridge Aldinger before Rakolta.[5] Rakolta Jr. began his career at Walbridge in 1970,[10] and became president in 1979 and CEO and chairman in 1993.[11]

Rakolta is also on the board of the Munder Funds since 1993.[12]

In 2015, Walbridge and partnered with Brazilian company Construcap in the construction of a new 6-million-square-foot Jeep assembly complex and supplier park in Goiana, Brazil, and were honored by Engineering News-Record with the publication's Global Best Manufacturing Project of the Year Award.[13] In 2015 Rakolta was co-chair of the Coalition for the Future of Detroit School Children, which recommended reform for the school system of Detroit, including limiting the number of charter schools in the city.[14][15] Also in 2015, Walbridge began a multi-year transformation of the General Motors Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan.[16] In 2017, Ford Motor Company selected Walbridge to provide construction services for the redevelopment of its Dearborn, Michigan, world headquarters and campus facilities.[17]

Rakolta was one of the National Finance Chairs for Mitt Romney's 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns.[5] Along with his work for the Romney campaigns, Rakolta was a major fundraiser for the Bush campaign in 2004.[18] Most recently he was State Finance Chair for Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan. Rakolta served as the chairman of New Detroit from 2003 to 2010.[12]

He was a financial advisor for Trump in Michigan and helped fund Trump's transition team after the election.[19]

In May 2018, Rakolta was nominated by President Donald Trump to be the next United States Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.[20][21] The U.S. Senate confirmed him on September 17, 2019, by a vote of 63–30.[22] In March 2020, Rakolta was appointed commissioner general of the U.S. pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.[23] He resigned on January 19, 2021.[24]

Rakolta and his wife Terry Rakolta were married in 1976 and have four children: Paige, Eileen, Lauren, and John Rakolta III. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).[12] Terry Rakolta is the sister of Mitt's former sister-in-law, Ronna Romney. John Rakolta is also the uncle to Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel.

In 1993 the Rakoltas bought a property near Palm Beach, Florida, where the gardens, designed by Jorge Sanchez, were given an award in 2013.[25]

In 2018, Rakolta was named Michiganian of the Year by The Detroit News for his advocacy work for Detroit public schools.[26][27]

• Chairman of New Detroit[28]
• Coalition for the Future of Detroit Schoolchildren (Co-chair)[29]
• Engineering Society of Detroit[30][31]
• Metropolitan Affairs Coalition (Co-chair)[32]

• Black Family Development, Inc's Dr. Gerald K. Smith Award (2014)[33]
• Engineering Society of Detroit's Horace H. Rackham Humanitarian Award[30][31]
• Marketing and Sales Executives of Detroit's Executive Leadership Award (2014)[34]
• New Detroit's Leadership in Race Relations Award (2015)[35]
• Urban Land Development Michigan Lifetime Achievement Award (2017)[36]
• Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship (2005)[27]

• Romanian consulate bio of Rakolta
• Business Week bio of Rakolta
• Marquette University page on Rakolta