Terry has a long, successful career as a businessman and an entrepreneur with years of experience running large and small organizations. When he sees opportunities, he finds ways to make them happen. He has successfully started over 25 companies.

He started his first business when he was just 14 years old, paving driveways so he could pay for college. He began with a small-time retail operation that focused on residential projects. But before long, the business took off. Terry took on commercial clients such as banks, restaurants, and fire stations. He hired employees, made payroll, and obtained a truck from his uncle so that he could buy his supplies wholesale. It was the beginning of a long and successful career.

Throughout his business career, Terry has focused on creating good paying jobs. When he took over as Chairman of American Heritage Homes, an ailing, insolvent home building company, he built it into one of the nation’s top home-building companies. The company expanded significantly and put thousands of people to work in good-paying jobs. Under his chairmanship, American Heritage built over 6,000 homes.

Terry currently has several new projects in development, focusing his efforts on the economic and environmental benefits of renewable energy sources. Specifically, he has made an offer to buy the shuttered International Paper plant in the city of Franklin Virginia for the purpose of creating a renewable biomass and wood pellet manufacturing facility. Additionally, Terry serves as Founder and Chairman of Green Tech Automotive, which manufactures electric and hybrid vehicles.

But given our present financial situation – the federal government has had to rescue and close a record number of banks ' – perhaps no aspect of Terry’s business career is more instructive than his work at the Federal City National Bank, a bank he saved from failure.

Federal City National Bank – A McAuliffe Success Story

In 1985, Terry McAuliffe helped found the Federal City National Bank, a small community bank that was designed to serve the Washington, DC area. Like all new banks, the bank struggled to turn a profit. While the bank's assets grew, in its first year the bank posted losses.

In 1988, the bank’s board turned to Terry and elected him chairman, making him the youngest elected chairman of a federally chartered bank. His goal was to make Federal City National Bank one of the nation's most innovative, community-oriented and fiscally sound financial institutions.

As chairman, Terry took immediate steps to turn the bank around. He hired new management and brought in additional directors. By the end of 1989, after one year of Terry’s leadership, Federal City National Bank reported its first annual profit. The president of the bank, Clyde Smith, said more stringent loan requirements and better workouts of nonperforming loans spurred the turnaround.

Federal City's turnaround was remarkable in another sense: the Washington, DC-area was over-banked and the cost of doing business in the District was a lot higher than doing business in the suburbs. Large banks were overtaking the smaller banks. Yet during this time, Federal City was able to establish itself. A headline in October 1990 read "Federal City profits buck banking trends." A month later, the Washington Business Journal noted "Federal City National Bank is currently one of the most profitable institutions in the District." Indeed, Federal City had the second highest return on average assets of any bank in the District of Columbia. One bank analyst noted, "It's incredible the way these guys have turned this bank around."

By 1991, the Savings and Loan crisis was in full swing. The economy was in recession. Federal regulators were forcing banks to increase their capital and write down loans and even seized some banks. All 11 DC-area small, community banks that started in the 1980s were facing trouble. One investment source noted, "With the number of banks out there looking to raise capital, coupled with the problems in the industry and the regulatory environment they have to operate under--they'll just never do it. There are just too many better ways to invest your money." A majority of those 11 small banks were ultimately taken over by the federal government. In spite of this climate, Federal City National Bank did not close. Rather, it was able to raise capital and then merge with a larger bank, stay in operation, and flourish. Terry went on to become Vice Chairman of the larger merged institution.