Rebecca Paul (born Feb 1949 as Rebecca Sue Graham) is currently the President and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the

Tennessee Lottery The Tennessee Lottery is run by the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation (TELC), which was created on June 11, 2003, by the Tennessee General Assembly. TELC derives its legal authority from the ''Tennessee Education Lottery Implementation Law ...

. Prior to assuming her current position in 2003, Paul gained national fame within the

lottery A lottery is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of ...

community for operating lotteries in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and Georgia. In 1986 Florida voters elected Republican

Bob Martinez Robert Martinez (born December 25, 1934) is an American retired politician who served as the 40th governor of Florida from 1987 to 1991. A member of the Republican Party, Martinez was the first person of Spanish descent to be elected governor o ...

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, and at the same time, voted in favor of establishing a state lottery to aid education. The new governor recruited Paul as the state's first Lottery Secretary, due largely to her reputation for having turned the Illinois lottery from a moribund operation into one of the most successful lotteries in the United States. Paul was then brought to Georgia for the same purpose in 1993, after Georgia voted to start up a lottery as well. Paul was already the highest paid lottery official in the United States, prior to being recruited to Tennessee with an even larger compensation package. She is widely regarded as the pre-eminent lottery official in the United States, being described by one state legislator as the "Michael Jordan" of lotteries. In 2022 she was elected president of the World Lottery Association.

Pre-lottery years and personal life

Paul, a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, is an alumna of Butler University, where she earned a BS degree (1970) and an MS degree (1975) from the College of Education. Paul was selected as

Miss Indiana The Miss Indiana competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Indiana in the Miss America Pageant. Elizabeth Hallal of Georgetown was crowned Miss Indiana 2022 on June 18, 2022 at STAR Bank Performing Arts Cente ...

1972, and was the fourth runnerup in the 1973

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...

Pageant, losing to

Terry Anne Meeuwsen Terry Anne Meeuwsen Friedrich (born March 2, 1949) is an American television personality, co-host of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN)'s '' 700 Club'', author and singer. Meeuwsen was the 1972 Miss Appleton, 1972 Miss Wisconsin and the ...

(best known as co-host of ''

The 700 Club ''The 700 Club'' is the flagship television program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing each weekday in syndication in the United States and available worldwide on CBN.com. The news magazine program features live guests, daily news, con ...

''). After her pageant days, Paul was hired as a "weather girl" at a station in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

. She married Terry Paul, a construction executive and 1968 graduate of Butler University, and in 1977, when he took a new position in Illinois, she was hired at

WICS WICS (channel 20) is a television station licensed to Springfield, Illinois, United States, affiliated with ABC. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, and maintains studios on East Cook Street in Springfield's Eastside; its ...

, the then-

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

affiliate in

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

. While living in the state capital, Paul became involved with

Republican party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

politics, rising to the position of party co-chair, before being tapped to run the

Illinois Lottery The Illinois State Lottery (known simply as the Illinois Lottery) is an American lottery for the U.S. state of Illinois, operated by Camelot Illinois. Overview The Illinois Lottery began operations on July 1, 1974, when lotteries in the United ...

. In 1999, while Paul was living in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

and running that state's lottery, her husband died. When she moved to Tennessee, she met state legislator

Jere Hargrove Jere Logan Hargrove (born September 17, 1946) is a Tennessee Democratic politician who served in the Tennessee House of Representatives. Early life and education Hargrove was born September 17, 1946 in Cookeville, Tennessee. He was educated a ...

, who was a Democratic member of the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

. Hargrove did not seek re-election in 2006, and the day after the election, on November 8, 2006, Hargrove and Paul were married in 2006 by Governor

Phil Bredesen Philip Norman Bredesen Jr. (born November 21, 1943) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 48th governor of Tennessee from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was elected in 20 ...

in the governor's mansion. She and Hargrove were divorced in 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Rebecca 1949 births Living people Tennessee Republicans Women in Tennessee politics Illinois Republicans Women in Illinois politics People from Springfield, Illinois Georgia Lottery Florida Lottery Miss America Preliminary Swimsuit winners People from Indianapolis 21st-century American women Butler University alumni