Goli Ameri
Candidate U.S. House of Representatives (R-1st/OR)

Goli Ameri is the founder and president of eTinium, a consulting and market research firm specializing in the telecommunications industry and advising such firms as Lucent Technologies and Nortel Networks.  She was born in Tehran, Iran in 1956 and came to the United States at the age of 17 to attend Stanford University. She holds both a Masters and Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Stanford and has studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, France.

Touted early on as a phenomenal fundraiser, Ameri has raised over $1.3 million since beginning her campaign to unseat Democrat Rep. David Wu in Oregon's First Congressional District race. She is the first Iranian American to win a congressional primary taking 49 percent of the vote and is considered to be one of the top Republican challengers in the nation. Her fundraising skills, combined with her elegance, her superb business acumen and her knowledge of the American political process, gives Iranian Americans good reason to believe that she is in a position to make history by becoming the first American of Iranian Heritage to be elected to the U.S. Congress.

Ameri’s deep understanding of American politics is largely a result of her broad experience over the years. Currently, she is on the Advisory board of the Center for American Women in Politics at Portland State University. In addition, she is a member of Senator Gordon Smith’s (R-OR) Finance Committee. She is also a past member of the Executive Committee of the San Francisco and Oregon Republican Parties, and was the Oregon delegate to the National Republican Women’s conference. She is fluent in both Persian and French, with a working knowledge of Spanish.

A Moderate Republican that supports abortion rights, Ameri is strongly committed to the notion that lower, fairer taxes on families and businesses results in greater economic growth.  She believes that with growth comes more jobs, higher salaries, better benefits and, eventually, more revenue to government.  At the IAPAC 2004 Spring Gala, Ameri conveyed her pride in having the opportunity to represent the Iranian American community, whose “level of achievement as recent immigrants,” she said, “is not only a demonstration of our rich heritage, but also of this unbelievable country which treats immigrants with dignity, gives them all the rights and privileges of citizenship, and allows someone like me to represent the good people of the 1st district of Oregon.”

Background Information:
Party: Republican
Prev. Occupation: Business Woman
Prev. Political Exp.: no prior elected office
Education: BA Stanford University, 1977; MA Stanford University, 1979