ABOUT MR. EXUM'S BOXING CAREER

Curtis Exum was a boxer in his youth, and he grew up on a farm in Wisconsin, the youngest of five brothers. With a boxing career that began by duking it out with his siblings, the sport defined the stocky Exum early on. As a youth, Exum says “I wasn’t the class valedictorian,” and a high-school counselor recommended he “stay on the farm” rather than pursue college - a piece of advice Exum took as a challenge. “I told a friend of mine in the 8th grade I was going to be a lawyer,” says Exum today. “Maybe I just didn’t look like lawyer material when I was in high school.” He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and went on to graduate with a degree in political science and international relations.

And he boxed - a welterweight amateur who, by his own estimation, could “take a punch. Everyone I fought against had longer reaches than me, so I had to.” He had great success in the amateur ranks, as a three-time State and Golden Gloves Champion, compiling an impressive record of 20 wins to 4 losses. He journeyed to New York City (“without even a job or a place to live”) to begin a professional boxing career, appearing on a card at Madison Square Garden’s Felt Forum (“I was also scheduled to fight Roy Jones, Jr., but it was cancelled”). But a system he began to view as corrupt held no future for him. By his mid-20s, Exum was paying his way through law school and he met his future wife, Marie, a Long Islander to whom he credits much of his success today (“She doesn’t take any guff,” he says.). – From Mr. Exum’s Ten Leaders Profile