Holli Sullivan is an American politician, businesswoman, and engineer who served as the 62nd

secretary of state of Indiana The Secretary of State of Indiana is one of five constitutional officers originally designated in Indiana's State Constitution of 1816. Since 1851, it has been an elected position. The Secretary of State oversees four divisions, and is the third ...

. As a member of the Republican Party, she also represented the 78th district in the

Indiana House of Representatives The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House memb ...

from 2014 to 2021.

Early life and education

A native of

Vanderburgh County, Indiana Vanderburgh County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 179,703. The county seat is in Evansville, Indiana, Evansville. While Vanderburgh County was the seventh-largest county in 2010 p ...

, Sullivan graduated from

John H. Castle High School Castle High School, previously known as John H. Castle High School is a public high school located about a mile northeast of Newburgh, Indiana on Indiana 261. Castle is one of three high schools in the Warrick County School Corporation. Until ...

. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

and took business management courses at

Lindenwood University Lindenwood University is a private university in St. Charles, Missouri. Founded in 1827 by George Champlin Sibley and Mary Easton Sibley as The Lindenwood School for Girls, it is the second-oldest higher-education institution west of the Missis ...

Early career

Sullivan began her career in the paint department of

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

. From 1999 to 2001, she was the assistant manager of quality for

Toyota Motor North America Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) is the operating subsidiary that oversees all operations of the Toyota Motor Corporation in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Its operations include research and development, manufacturing, sales, marketi ...

. She was an engineering consultant at the Center for Applied Research of the

University of Southern Indiana The University of Southern Indiana (USI) is a public university just outside of Evansville, Indiana. Founded in 1965, USI enrolls 9,750 dual credit, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in more than 130 areas of study. USI offers program ...

and later owned Onward Consulting.

Indiana House of Representatives

In 2014, the district 78 seat in the

was vacated by

Suzanne Crouch Suzanne Crouch (born February 27, 1952) is an American politician who has served as the 52nd lieutenant governor of Indiana since 2017. She previously served as the 56th state auditor of Indiana. She is a candidate for Governor of Indiana in 20 ...

, who had been appointed

Indiana state auditor The Indiana State Auditor is a constitutional and elected office in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. State of Indiana. The Auditor of Indiana is elected to a four-year term and is subject to term limits where the officeholder is b ...

. House District 78 contains parts of Vanderburgh and Warrick counties. Portions of

Evansville Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in S ...

as well as Newburgh and

McCutchanville McCutchanville is an unincorporated community in Center Township, Vanderburgh County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. McCutchanville was established in 1845 and is named for Samuel McCutchan, a Scottish/ Irish immigrant who was the first postma ...

are within the borders of the district. Sullivan was elected to fill the position in a caucus by precinct committeemen. She was appointed to the House Ways and Means Committee and the Committee on Roads and Transportation. Sullivan was challenged in the 2014 election by Stephen Melcher but defeated him winning 63.8% of the vote. She was challenged in the 2016 election by Philip Bennett but defeated him winning 66.44% of the vote. In 2017, she co-authored House Bill 1002, which provided for a long term plan for sustaining roads and bridges in Indiana including a phase-in shift of all gas tax to be dedicated to a dedicated infrastructure fund. That same session, she authored a bill which created a strategic plan to reduce cervical cancer.

Indiana Secretary of State

In 2021, Holli was named the 62nd

by Governor

Eric Holcomb Eric Joseph Holcomb (born May 2, 1968) is an American politician who is the 51st and current governor of Indiana, serving since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 51st lieutenant governor of Indiana from 2016 to 2017 unde ...

. In June 2022, at the Indiana Republican Party's convention to select their candidates for the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, Sullivan was defeated by Diego Morales in what was considered an upset.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Holli 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Living people Republican Party members of the Indiana House of Representatives Politicians from Evansville, Indiana Secretaries of State of Indiana University of Missouri alumni Women state legislators in Indiana Year of birth missing (living people)