Category: Iowa Women / page 3

Mary Kramer
Mary E Kramer


Mary E. Kramer served as U.S. ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean from 2004 to 2006. Prior to serving as ambassador, Kramer served in the Iowa state Senate from 1990 to 2003. She was elected president of the Senate in 1997, becoming the first independently elected woman to fill the post. Kramer was born June 14, 1935, in Burlington, Iowa, and grew up in Iowa City. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in piano performance and a Master of Arts in education, both from the University of Iowa. For […]
Liz Mathis
Liz Mathis


Liz Mathis has served as an Iowa state senator since 2011. In 2022, she was the Democratic nominee for Iowa's 1st congressional district, losing in the general election to incumbent Ashley Hinson. Mathis grew up on a farm in Eastern Iowa. She graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in journalism. Early on in her journalism career, Mathis was a broadcaster for a local radio station. She would later become a professor and taught at Wartburg College. Sources: Liz Mathis for Congress. Liz Mathis. (2022, July 28). Retrieved […]
Adeline Lavonne McCormick-Ohnemus
Adeline Lavonne McCormick-Ohnemus


Dr. Adeline Lavonne McCormick-Ohnemus, an advocate for healthy lifestyle choices and preventative medicine, was a role model and motivator for the rural women she cared for over the 45 years she lived and practiced medicine in Milo, Iowa. McCormick-Ohnemus was born on November 21, 1921, in Lucas County, Iowa. She put herself through junior college and became a teacher. She then decided to go to Drake University in pre-med and was the only woman in her class at Still College of Osteopathy (now Des Moines University) in the 1940s. Through […]
Jacqueline McGhee
Jacqueline E McGhee


Jacqueline Easley McGhee, a native of Des Moines, is a model of leadership and service. Whether serving in the capacity of corporate executive, civic leader, or elected representative, McGhee is committed to making Iowa a better place for all, particularly for women and minorities. McGhee was elected to the Des Moines School Board in 1990 and was the first African American female to hold such a post. In 1994, she was elected by her fellow board members as president. McGhee has been appointed to serve on the national diversity committee […]
Andy McGuire
Andy McGuire


Andy McGuire served as chair of the Iowa Democratic Party from January 2015 to January 2017 and was a Democratic candidate for governor of Iowa in 2018. McGuire was born in Waterloo, Iowa, on November 26, 1956. She received her B.S. from Creighton University, her M.D. from Creighton University School of Medicine, and her MBA from Kennesaw State University – Michael J Coles College of Business. McGuire worked at Washington University in nuclear medicine, and then moved to Iowa to start a family with her husband. She worked at Des […]
Mariannette Miller-Meeks
Mariannette Miller-Meeks


Mariannette Miller-Meeks assumed office as the U.S. representative for Iowa's 2nd District on Jan. 3, 2021. Following redistricting in 2021, most of District 2 was renamed District 1 and Miller-Meeks won re-election in the district. Miller-Meeks enlisted in the United States Army at age 18 and retired honorably from the reserves as a Lt. Colonel. During those 24 years, active duty and reserve, she served as a private, nurse, and physician. She completed her undergraduate degree in nursing at Texas Christian University, a Master of Science in education from University […]
Carla Nelson
Carla Nelson


Carla Nelson has served in the Minnesota State Senate since 2010. She was a Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives to represent Minnesota's 1st Congressional District, but lost in the primary. Nelson was born in Webster City, Iowa, on May 22, 1957. She earned a Bachelor of Science in special education from Drake University and a Master in Education in teacher leadership from the University of Minneapolis. She started her career as a teacher in 1992 for the Rochester Public Schools and left in 2000. In 2005 she […]
Charlotte Nelson
Charlotte B Nelson


Charlotte Bowers Nelson has elevated the status of women and girls in Iowa through her leadership and advocacy for justice and equality for everyone. She has served as a YWCA teenage program director, an office manager of the League of Women Voters of Iowa, and state director of the League of Women Voters of the United States' Sex Equity in Vocational Education project. Nelson also coordinated the first women's studies course at Drake University. For 22 years, she served as the governor-appointed executive director of the Iowa Commission on the […]
Kay Orr
Kay A. Orr


Kay A. Orr served as governor of Nebraska from 1987-1991, Nebraska's first female governor and the first female Republican governor. Orr was born in Burlington, Iowa, on January 2, 1939. She began her political career as a volunteer for the Republican Party after moving to Nebraska, in 1963, and was elected as a delegate to the national conventions of 1976, 1980, 1984 and 1988. In 1981, she was appointed Nebraska state treasurer to fill a midterm vacancy and served until 1987, when she assumed office as governor. She was defeated […]
Sally Pederson
Sally Pederson


Sally Pederson served as Iowa's 45th lieutenant governor from 1999 to 2007.  A native of Vinton, Iowa, Pederson was born January 13, 1951. She graduated from Iowa State University in 1973. Following, she became an executive at Meredith Corporation in Des Moines, Iowa, and served as the senior food editor for Better Homes and Gardens. As lieutenant governor, Pederson advocated for individuals with disabilities and led the Vilsack-Pederson administration's initiatives for health care and human services. She worked to expand access to health care for children, ensure fair prices of […]