Kathleen Connell is an American businesswoman, journalist, entrepreneur, and academic. She was the

California State Controller The state controller of California is a constitutional office in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of California. Thirty-two individuals have held the office of state controller since statehood. The incumbent is Betty Yee ...

from 1995 until 2003. She was the first woman to serve in the position. As controller she served as a trustee of

CalPERS The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is an agency in the California executive branch that "manages pension and health benefits for more than 1.5 million California public employees, retirees, and their families".CalPERSFa ...

and

CalSTRS The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) provides retirement, disability and survivor benefits for California's 965,000 prekindergarten through community college educators and their families. CalSTRS was established by law in 191 ...

, which together comprise the largest pool of retirement assets in the world, for eight years. Among the program innovations as State Controller: the postcard tax return (the first in the nation); the Unclaimed Property Program, a national online searchable database, returning $2 billion to US residents; the California Y2K Financial Network, a multi-finance industry task force, created to successfully execute the rollover of all State financial systems, and the Citizen's Report Card, honored with a prestigious national achievement award for seven years for transparency in government financial reporting.

Elections

In 1994, she

defeated Defeated may refer to: * "Defeated" (Breaking Benjamin song) * "Defeated" (Anastacia song) *"Defeated", a song by Snoop Dogg from the album ''Bible of Love'' *Defeated, Tennessee, an unincorporated community *''The Defeated ''The Defeated'', al ...

ex- State Assemblyman

Tom McClintock Thomas Miller McClintock II (; born July 10, 1956) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2009. His district stretches from the Sacramento suburbs to the outer suburbs of Fresno; it includes Yosemite National ...

for California State Controller. In 1998, she won

re-election The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...

, in a landslide vote, against

Ruben Barrales Ruben Barrales (born April 14, 1962) is the former Deputy Assistant to President George W. Bush, and was also the Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.The Foreign Policy Of George W. Bush: Values, Strategy And Loyalty, by Alexander ...

. In that election, she won 55 of 58 California's counties.

Academics

She served as Chair of the Corporate Directors Center at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

Haas School of Business The Walter A. Haas School of Business, also known as Berkeley Haas, is the business school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It was the first business school at a public universit ...

and on faculty in the Executive MBA Program (2004-2011). She was on faculty at

UCLA Anderson School of Management The John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management, also known as the UCLA Anderson School of Management, is the graduate business school at the University of California, Los Angeles, one of eleven professional schools. The school offers MBA (ful ...

and Founder/Chair of the Center for Finance and Real Estate. She has also taught at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789 as Georgetown College, the university has grown to comprise eleven undergraduate and graduate ...

McDonough School of Business The Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business, commonly shorted to the McDonough School of Business and abbreviated as the MSB, is the business school of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1957, it grants both undergraduate an ...

Work and personal life

Connell is currently Founder and CEO of an early-stage tech company and has been an investment banker in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. She holds five security licenses. Connell has a Ph.D. from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

Mathews, Joe
Connell takes to TV in costly race for mayor.
''Los Angeles Times'', March 13, 2001. and resides in Washington, D.C.

Writing

Connell has written for

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

and

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

Her book, ''Moving up to millions: the life calculator guide to wealth''.Connell, Kathleen M. ''Moving up to millions: the life calculator guide to wealth''. Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley & Sons, 2007. . was published in 2007.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people State Controllers of California Women in California politics 21st-century American women {{California-politician-stub