To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (7982 ) 2/28/2016 11:02:30 AM From: robert b furman Read Replies (1) | Respond to Hi GZ,[ edit ] In 2003, she worked for the Bush administration on economic policy, [1] [20] eventually becoming the director for the Western Hemisphere on the National Security Council under National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice in 2003. [1] [19] [21] Cruz remembered liking her tenure with the Bush administration and found her work to be "personally fulfilling." [22] After commuting to see her husband for a year, [23] she left Washington DC in 2004 to support his run for elective office in Texas. [24] Cruz did not see this as her giving up her career but merely as relocating, and she took her time to become use to the new environment, initially difficult since most of her family was in California and she had several colleagues in New York . [22] [25] and is currently the Region Head for the Southwest Region in the Investment Management Division of Goldman Sachs in Houston . [1] [19] [26] Peter Conway, Cruz's employer, assisted in her recruitment and was impressed by her being among the first to arrive and last to leave, remembering her doing well in a field of men. Conway would later recommend her to lead the office. Cruz used politics to gain common ground with her clients and deployed her husband to join her in meeting with potential investors. [23] She had served as vice president for seven years before the promotion in 2013. [27] She took a leave of absence without pay for her husband's 2016 presidential campaign.[24][ edit ] Marriage[ edit ] Nelson met Ted Cruz while the two were working together on George W. Bush 's 2000 presidential campaign . [1] [69] Ted later admitted to being embarrassed over taking two days to ask her out. Friends and colleagues of Heidi say that she is an intellectual equal to Cruz. Heidi married Ted on May 27, 2001. [11] [70] [71] She now shares her husband's religious affiliation. [72] [73] [74] [21] In January 2016, questions were raised on the front page of the New York Times as to whether the couple did actually cash in their entire liquid net worth, and it was revealed that the campaign was also financed by a previously undeclared loan Heidi took from Goldman Sachs. Addressing the matter, Cruz reflected that the couple had stalled their lives and finances for his campaign for the U.S. Senate, for which she concluded Texans were thankful. [75] federal health insurance support, has been criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike for wanting to remove federal health care support from members of Congress and their staff. In 2013, it was revealed that he was on Heidi’s health insurance through Goldman Sachs, worth at least $20,000 a year. While the couple has maintained that the plan is a personal decision and what works best for the family, it angered members of Congress and staff who maintain that relying on federal healthcare is no different than what employers usually provide for their employees. [76] Heidi’s unpaid leave of absence from Goldman Sachs for Ted’s presidential campaign has resulted in receiving no company benefits including health insurance. [77]
