Category: Lieutenant Governor / page 4

Barbara O'Brien
Barbara O'Brien


Barbara O'Brien served as Colorado's 47th lieutenant governor from 2007 to 2011. She was the fourth woman to hold the position of lieutenant governor in the state. O'Brien was born April 18, 1950, in Brawley, California. She obtained her Ph.D. in English from Columbia University. Prior to her political career, O'Brien worked as a speechwriter and policy advisor for Governor Richard Lamm. She also worked for the University of Colorado at Denver as the director of campus affairs and later served the university as the director of the Institute for […]
Sheila Oliver
Sheila Oliver


Sheila Oliver served as the lieutenant governor of New Jersey from 2018-2023, New Jersey's first Black lieutenant governor and the first woman of color elected to statewide office in the state. Oliver was born on July 14, 1952, in Newark, New Jersey. She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Lincoln University in 1974 and received her master's degree in planning and administration from Columbia University in 1976. Oliver served on the Board of Education of the East Orange (N.J.) School District from 1994 to […]
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 […]
Beverly Perdue
Beverly E Perdue


Beverly Perdue served as governor of North Carolina from 2009-2013, the state's first female governor. Perdue was born January 14, 1947, in Grundy, Virginia. She received a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Kentucky in 1969 and her M.Ed. in community college administration (1974) and her Ph.D. in education administration (1976) from the University of Florida. Before entering politics, Perdue worked as a teacher and a health care consultant. Perdue served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1987-1991 and the North Carolina Senate from 1991-2001, […]
Karyn Polito
Karyn Polito


Karyn Polito served as the lieutenant governor of Massachusetts from 2015-2023. Polito was born on Nov. 11, 1966, in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. She received her Bachelor of Science in 1988 from Boston College and her Juris Doctor from the New England School of Law shortly after. Before entering the public sector, Polito owned and operated a commercial real estate development firm. Her political career began in local government, serving as a member of the Shrewsbury Board of Selectmen and the State Lottery Commission. In 2000, she was elected to the Massachusetts […]
Yvonne Prettner Solon
Yvonne Prettner Solon


Yvonne Prettner Solon served as Minnesota's lieutenant governor from 2011 to 2015. Prettner Solon was the 6th consecutive woman to serve as Minnesota's lieutenant governor. Prettner Solon was born February 3, 1946, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She received her Bachelor of Science degree and her Master of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota, Duluth. Prior to being elected as lieutenant governor, Prettner Solon served in the Minnesota State Senate from 2002 to 2011, representing the 7th District of Minnesota. While in Senate, Solon was a member of the Senate's Capital […]
Michele Reagan
Michele Reagan


Michele Reagan has served as a justice of the peace for the Maricopa County McDowell Mountain Precinct in Arizona since 2021. Reagan was born on October 13, 1969, in Rockford, Illinois, and graduated from Illinois State University. She moved to Arizona in 1991 with her family. Reagan was elected to the Arizona State House in 2002, where she served until 2010 when she was elected to the Arizona State Senate. She served as Arizona’s secretary of state from 2015-2019, losing in the 2018 primary election.
M. Jodi Rell
M. Jodi Rell


M. Jodi Rell served as governor of Connecticut from 2004-2011, the state's second female governor and its first female Republican governor. Rell was born in Norfolk, Virginia, on June 16, 1946. She attended Old Dominion University, but left in 1967 to marry U.S. Navy Pilot Lou Rell. She continued her education in 1969 at Western Connecticut State University, but did not graduate. Rell received honorary doctor of law degrees from the University of Hartford in 2001 and the University of New Haven in 2004. Before her term as governor, Rell […]
Kim Reynolds
Kim Reynolds


Kim Reynolds became the first woman to serve as governor of Iowa on May 24, 2017, when she replaced Governor Terry Branstad after he stepped down to become U.S. ambassador to China. Previously, Reynolds had served as the lieutenant governor of Iowa from 2011-2017. On Nov. 6, 2018, she won the election for governor, Iowa's first elected female governor. Reynolds was born on August 4, 1959, in Truro, Iowa, and grew up in St. Charles, Iowa. In 2016, while serving as lieutenant governor, she received a Bachelor of Liberal Studies […]
Elizabeth Roberts
Elizabeth H Roberts


Elizabeth Roberts was the first female elected lieutenant governor of Rhode Island, serving from 2007 to 2015. Born in Washington, D.C., Roberts attended Brown University and graduated with a degree in human biology in 1978. Following college, Roberts completed her MBA in health care management at Boston University in 1984. From 1997 until 2007, Roberts served in the Rhode Island State Senate. As a state senator, Roberts worked to make insurance affordable for small business. In 2004, Roberts created the Office of Health Insurance Commissioner to oversee insurance companies and […]