Carole Lynn Crist (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...

Oumano, formerly Rome) is an American businesswoman and former First Lady of Florida. Crist is the former wife of

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

and one-term

Florida Governor The governor of Florida is the head of government of the state of Florida and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Florida ...

Charlie Crist Charles Joseph Crist Jr. (; born July 24, 1956) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 and as the U.S. representative for from 2017 to 2022. Crist has been a member of the Democrati ...

, having served as First Lady of Florida from December 12, 2008, to January 4, 2011.

Personal life

Crist was born and raised in

Roslyn, New York Roslyn ( ) is a village in the Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is the Greater Roslyn area's anchor community. The population was 2,770 at the 2010 census. History Ro ...

, a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

suburb on Long Island. She is the daughter of Margaret and Robert Oumano. Mr. Oumano was the former president of the Franco-American Novelty Company, a family-owned Halloween and costume business. The company was founded in 1910 and was based in

Glendale, Queens Glendale is a neighborhood in the west-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Forest Hills to the east, Ridgewood to the west, Woodhaven to the south, and Middle Village to the north. Glendale was built on a s ...

. Crist graduated magna cum laude from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

with a degree in accounting. Crist has two daughters from her first marriage to Todd Rome. She married then-Florida governor

on December 12, 2008, at the

First Methodist Church of St. Petersburg The First Methodist Church of St. Petersburg (also known as the First United Methodist Church of St. Petersburg) is a historic church in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is located at 212 3rd Street, North. On September 13, 1990, it was added to th ...

. After nine years of marriage, in February 2017, Mr. Crist filed for divorce, stating, "I think the world of Carole. She's an amazing person. It just didn't work out for us, I wish all the best for her." Crist currently resides in

Fisher Island, Florida Fisher Island is a census-designated place in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, located on a barrier island of the same name. Since 2015, Fisher Island has the highest per capita income of any place in the United States. It had only 2 ...

Career

After her father's death in 2000, Crist ran Franco-American Novelty for the next six years. She coined the slogan ''"Where Fashion Meets Halloween"'' and changed the focus of the company to more figure-flattering, high-fashion costumes. In 2006, she handed over control of Franco-American to her sister, Michele Oumano Powell, and in January, 2013 resigned from her management position. In 2012, Crist started a new Halloween Costume business in St. Petersburg, Florida called Goddessey, L.L.C., which she sold in early 2017. During her husband's 2016 campaign for Congress, Crist served as acting campaign director, and played a significant role in fundraising. Crist is currently founder and CEO of CLC Global Advisors, a philanthropic and entrepreneurial venture focused on impact investing.

References

External links

First Lady webpage
1969 births First Ladies and Gentlemen of Florida McDonough School of Business alumni Living people People from Roslyn, New York 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 21st-century American women {{US-business-bio-1960s-stub