Jacqueline Coleman
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 an administrator, high school teacher, and high school basketball coach. Coleman is also the founder and president of Lead Kentucky, a nonprofit organization focused on education policy reform. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Early life and career Coleman attended Mercer County High School in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, where she played basketball. 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. 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. She earned a master's degree in political science at the University of Louisville in 2008, and was a graduate assistant on the Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team in 2005–06 under head coach Tom Collen. After graduating, Coleman became a social studies teacher at Burgin High School in Burgin, Kentucky, and coached the girls' basketball team. From 2008 through 2015, she coached and taught advanced government at East Jessamine High School in Nicholasville, Kentucky. 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 Kimberly King, a Republican, by over 30% in a traditionally Republican-dominated district. Specifically, there was no Democratic candidate to win a race in the 55th district that day. 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." 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. 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. Coleman is a doctoral student at the University of Kentucky, where she is studying educational leadership. Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky Elections 2019 Kentucky Governor election Andy Beshear selected Coleman as his running mate on the Democratic ticket in the 2019 Kentucky gubernatorial election. On November 5, 2019, Beshear was declared the winner of the election, making Coleman the lieutenant governor-elect. After the election, Coleman said she would focus on education and rural economic development as lieutenant governor. Tenure Coleman and Beshear were sworn into office on December 10. In addition to serving as lieutenant governor, Beshear tapped Coleman to be the Secretary of Education and Workforce Development in his cabinet; however, she stepped down from this position