ALUMNI PROFILE

Groomed for Congress

Don Manzullo, Law ’70, was a small-town lawyer in northern Illinois serving high-powered clients. In the 1980s, he decided to start serving ordinary people. Today, he’s still doing it.

By Robin Graham

Even after lowering fees so his clients — farmers, divorced mothers, small-business owners — could afford to pay, Manzullo’s business boomed.

“There was a whole world of unserved people out there,” he says.

Little did Manzullo know that he was being groomed for Congress. There were signs. “God was preparing my heart for something different,” he says.

That something was public service. In 1992, Manzullo was elected to the U.S. Congress, with no prior political experience. Since then, the Republican from Illinois has championed causes as diverse as U.S. manufacturing and disability for Iraq war veterans. “I spend 75 percent of my time on manufacturing issues,” he says, “and helping companies back home get business.”

Manzullo travels the world looking for best practices to bring back. He is chairman of the House Committee on Small Business, serves on the president’s Council on Competitiveness, and has been chosen Legislator of the Year by several groups.

Manzullo calls himself friend to both Republicans and Democrats. “I try to stay out of partisan politics. There’s just too much to do.”