Jacqueline Coleman is the 58th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky. She is a life-long Kentuckian, educator, basketball coach, writer and founder of a nonprofit. She is wife to Chris, mom to Evelynne, adopted mom to Emma, and a bonus mom to Will and Nate. Her family lives in Frankfort.
Public service is a way of life for Jacqueline and her family. She was raised on a farm in Burgin, where her family owned a small business for five generations. Her upbringing, including her father's tenure as state representative, taught her to help those in need and, as a result, she has devoted her personal and professional life to service.
After graduating from Mercer County High School, Jacqueline attended Centre College, where she majored in history and secondary education and played on the basketball team. Basketball has always been part of Jacqueline's life and instilled values in her like attention to detail, discipline, and teamwork. Her grandfather, Jack Coleman, Sr., was the University of Louisville's first 1,000-point scorer, a hall-of-famer, and two-time NBA champion. Jacqueline earned her master's degree in political science from the University of Louisville and served on the women's basketball coaching staff. As a high school basketball coach, she appeared in the 2017 KHSAA Sweet 16 and was named regional coach of the year in 2015.
As the state's highest elected teacher, Jacqueline is a vocal and passionate advocate for public education. She believes education is the key to providing Kentuckians opportunities for transformational change that can create new cycles of success. She began her career as a high school civics teacher in her hometown at Burgin High School. Jacqueline also taught at East Jessamine High School and, most recently, served as an assistant principal at Nelson County High School. She is currently completing a doctorate in educational leadership at the University of Kentucky.
Her experience in Emerge Kentucky inspired her to found her own nonprofit, Lead Kentucky, in 2013. Lead Kentucky ensures Kentucky's college women are prepared, encouraged, and empowered to seek leadership positions on their campuses and later in their professional lives. Since its inception, Lead Kentucky has empowered students on more than a dozen college campuses.
Jacqueline remains focused on the challenges Kentucky families face. During her first term, through the Team Kentucky Student Mental Health Initiative, she worked with student leaders to secure more than $40 million in federal funding to increase student mental health resources in schools across the commonwealth. In January 2020, she led the charge to waive the testing fee for adults earning their GED. Since then, more than 8,100 Kentuckians have earned a GED and changed the trajectory of their families' futures. She revived the Kentucky Commission on Women after its office was shuttered and funding was removed during the previous administration. As a rural Kentuckian, she aims to ensure Kentucky's booming economy reaches every zip code.