Jacqueline Coleman | |
Office: | 58th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky |
Governor: | Andy Beshear |
Term Start: | December 10, 2019 |
Predecessor: | Jenean Hampton |
Office1: | Secretary of the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet |
Governor1: | Andy Beshear |
Term Start1: | December 10, 2019 |
Term End1: | October 21, 2021 |
Predecessor1: | Derrick Ramsey |
Successor1: | Cabinet abolished |
Birth Name: | Jacqueline Layne Coleman |
Birth Date: | 9 June 1982 |
Birth Place: | Danville, Kentucky, U.S. |
Party: | Democratic |
Spouse: | Chris O'Bryan |
Children: | 4 |
Relatives: | Jack Coleman (grandfather) |
Education: | Centre College (BA) University of Louisville (MA) University of Kentucky |
Jacqueline Layne Coleman (born June 9, 1982) is an American educator and politician serving as the 58th lieutenant governor of Kentucky since 2019. She has worked as a high school administrator, teacher, and basketball coach. Coleman is the founder and president of Lead Kentucky, a nonprofit organization focused on education policy reform. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
Coleman attended Mercer County High School in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, where she played basketball.[1] She enrolled at Centre College in 2001 to study history, earned a bachelor's degree in 2004, and played college basketball for the Centre Colonels as a 5-foot-6 shooting guard.[2] As a senior at Centre in 2003–04, Coleman averaged 26.4 minutes, 7.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists, with 14 starts in 25 games.[4] From 2008 through 2015, she coached and taught advanced government at East Jessamine High School in Nicholasville, Kentucky.[1]
Coleman ran in a 2014 election to represent the 55th district in the Kentucky House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party. She lost the election to incumbent Republican Kimberly King by over 30% in a Republican-dominated district.[6] [7] [8]
In 2013, Coleman founded Lead Kentucky, a nonprofit organization focused on education policy reform. Inspired by Emerge Kentucky, the mission statement reads: "Lead Kentucky is a non-profit organization that recruits the best and brightest college women in the Bluegrass and empowers them to become the Commonwealth's next generation of leaders."[9] By focusing on leadership development of college aged women through emphasis on networking, finding a work/life balance, and overcoming obstacles (specifically in Kentucky), Coleman hopes that this program will empower women to take on roles that they may otherwise avoid.[10]
She became assistant principal at Nelson County High School in Bardstown, Kentucky in 2017, a position she held until her resignation in November 2019, following her election as lieutenant governor.[11] Coleman is a doctoral student at the University of Kentucky, where she is studying educational leadership.[12]
Andy Beshear selected Coleman as his running mate on the Democratic ticket in the 2019 Kentucky gubernatorial election.[6] On November 5, 2019, Beshear was declared the winner of the election, making Coleman the lieutenant governor-elect.[13] After the election, Coleman said she would focus on education and rural economic development as lieutenant governor.[14]
Coleman was again Beshear's running mate in the 2023 Kentucky gubernatorial election.[15] Beshear and Coleman were re-elected on November 7, 2023.[16]
Coleman and Beshear were sworn into office on December 10.[17] In addition to serving as lieutenant governor, Beshear tapped Coleman to be the Secretary of Education and Workforce Development in his cabinet;[18] however, she stepped down from this position in October 2021, saying that "seeing these commitments through requires a laser-like focus".[19]
Coleman's grandfather, Jack Coleman, played in the National Basketball Association.[20] Her father, also named Jack, served in the Kentucky House, representing the 55th district from 1991 through 2004.[6]
Coleman and her husband, Chris O'Bryan, announced her pregnancy during the 2019 campaign. Their daughter was born on February 8, 2020, making Coleman the highest-ranking elected executive official and first lieutenant governor in Kentucky history to give birth while in office.[21] Coleman also has another daughter, a former student she coached, whom she and O'Bryan adopted in December 2019, and is the stepmother to O'Bryan's two sons from a previous relationship.[20] [22] [23] [24] On December 18, 2023, Coleman had a double mastectomy due to her family's history of cancer.[25]
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After graduating, Coleman became a social studies teacher at Burgin High School in Burgin, Kentucky, and coached the girls' basketball team.[4]