Diana Rauner | |
---|---|
First Lady of Illinois | |
In role January 12, 2015 – January 14, 2019 | |
Governor | Bruce Rauner |
Preceded by | Patricia Blagojevich (2009) |
Succeeded by | M. K. Pritzker |
Personal details | |
Born | Diana Elizabeth Mendley 1961 (age 62–63) New York City, New York, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) |
Lewis Ingall
(
m. 1989;
div. 1991) |
Children | Three (with Rauner) Three stepchildren [1] |
Alma mater |
Yale University Stanford University University of Chicago |
Diana Mendley Rauner (born 1961) is an American businesswoman and president of Start Early, a non-profit in Chicago. [1] She served as the First Lady of Illinois from 2015 to 2019 as her husband, Bruce, served as governor. [2]
Rauner was born and raised in New York City, where she was the youngest of three children in a Reform Jewish home. [1] She attended Yale University, where she was also a champion fencer. [3] She was All-Ivy First Team in fencing in 1981-82, and 1982-83. [4] [5] She received her MBA from Stanford University, and her PhD in development psychology from the University of Chicago.
Rauner is a Democrat, but in 2014 when her husband Bruce Rauner, a Republican, became the Republican nominee for governor of Illinois in the 2014 Illinois gubernatorial election, Rauner appeared in a TV ad for her husband saying "I'm a lifelong Democrat, but enough is enough and the Democratic politicians in Springfield have got to be controlled and I know that is what my husband will do as governor." [6]
On July 18, 2016, Rauner announced a $15 million renovation project for the Illinois Executive Mansion, with the funding being raised privately. [7] [8] The work was planned to be completed by the Illinois bicentennial in 2018. [7]
She serves as president of the Ounce of Prevention Fund, an early-learning advocacy organization. [9] In June 2016, The Ounce of Prevention joined a lawsuit fund with other social organizations against her husband, the governor, and various state agencies; the lawsuit demanded payment for services rendered by the agencies, many of which had not received payment for over a year. [10]