Jane O'Meara Sanders
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Mary Jane O'Meara Sanders (
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
O'Meara, formerly Driscoll; born January 3, 1950) is an American social worker, college administrator, activist, and political strategist. She was provost and interim president of
Goddard College Goddard College was a Private college, private college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle. The college offered undergraduate and graduate degree programs. With predecessor ins ...
(1996–1997) and president of Burlington College (2004–2011). In 2017, she founded the
think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
The Sanders Institute. She has been married to U.S. Senator
Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...
since 1988. She has also served as the first lady of
Burlington, Vermont Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is the List of municipalities in Vermont, most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the county seat, seat of Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County. It is located south of the Can ...
, during her husband's term as mayor.


Education and personal life

Sanders was born Mary Jane O'Meara on January 3, 1950, and grew up in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, New York City, as one of the five children of Bernadette Joan (Sheridan) and Benedict P. O'Meara. She is of Irish descent and was raised
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
. She attended
Catholic school Catholic schools are Parochial school, parochial pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest parochial schools, religious, no ...
s, including Saint Saviour High School, before attending the
University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...
. O'Meara dropped out of school and moved back to Brooklyn with her first husband, David Driscoll. In 1975, they moved to Vermont when Driscoll's employer,
IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
, transferred him. The couple divorced in 1980. She has three children (Heather Titus, Carina Driscoll, and David Driscoll) from her marriage with Driscoll, who were later adopted by Sanders. O'Meara finished her college degree at
Goddard College Goddard College was a Private college, private college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle. The college offered undergraduate and graduate degree programs. With predecessor ins ...
in Plainfield, Vermont, with a bachelor's in
social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...
. She met
Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...
in 1981, ten days before his first campaign victory as Mayor of Burlington, and again at his victory party; the couple married in 1988. In 1996, she earned a doctorate in leadership studies in politics and education from
Union Institute & University Union Institute & University (UI&U) was a private online university that was headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It also operated satellite campuses in Florida and California. In early 2023, it began to experience severe financial challenge ...
headquartered in
Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
. Sanders is
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
.


Career

Early in her career, Sanders worked in the Juvenile Division of the Burlington Police Department, then was a community organizer with the King Street Area Youth Center, and then was a volunteer with AmeriCorps VISTA. From 1981 to 1991, Sanders served as founding director of the Mayor's Youth Office and Department Head in the City of Burlington. She was also active in K-12 education, was elected as a school board commissioner, and was a founding member of the Women's Council & the Film Commission. In 1991, her husband, Bernie Sanders, was elected to U.S. Congress. From 1991 to 1995, she worked in his office on a volunteer basis. In 1996, Sanders was appointed provost and interim president of her alma mater,
Goddard College Goddard College was a Private college, private college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle. The college offered undergraduate and graduate degree programs. With predecessor ins ...
, to help the college through a difficult period. The board, faculty, staff, students, and Sanders worked together to improve the accreditation, finances, and governance of the institution.''Burlington Free Press''; August 31, 1996, Just Jane: Activist Roots Pull Sanders Home to Goddard College" From 2004 through 2011, Sanders was president of Burlington College, a small liberal arts college founded in 1972 for non-traditional students. It closed due to financial problems in 2016. As senior partner in Burlington-based consulting firm Leadership Strategies, O'Meara served as a political and educational consultant for federal, state, and local political campaigns. Sanders was instrumental in founding the Sanders Institute, a progressive think tank that launched in June 2017, and is one of its 11 original fellows. Like the other fellows, she does not receive payment for her work, although she does receive compensation for travel expenses.


Adviser and aide to Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders has described his wife as "one of iskey advisers", and he has employed her at various times as "an administrative assistant, spokeswoman, policy adviser, chief of staff, and media buyer". In a 1996 article in ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', she was credited with helping him draft "more than 50 pieces of legislation". She has served in Sanders's Congressional office as Chief of Staff and as Policy and Press Adviser, and also serves as an Alternate Commissioner for the Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission.


Burlington College presidency

In 2004, Sanders was named President of Burlington College, a private, non-profit liberal arts school founded in 1972 in Vermont. She increased the small college's fundraising. During her tenure as President, Burlington had an endowment of "about $150,000", and fundraising revenue had increased from about $25,000 when Sanders first arrived to $1.25 million by 2011. In 2010, Sanders oversaw the purchase of property formerly owned and occupied by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington. The College based the real estate purchase on projections that enrollment would rapidly grow from fewer than 200 to as many as 750 students, with a corresponding income increase from tuition fees. In 2011, the College's Board of Trustees, while crediting Sanders with acquiring a permanent campus for the 200‑student college, called a meeting for September 2011 and accepted Sanders's resignation. "We reached a decision which I believe is best for both the College and me," Sanders said after the meeting, "The board and I have different visions for the future and that's perfectly fine." On departure, she received the title of President Emeritus and a $200,000 severance, consisting of one year's pay, along with certain retirement and bonus payments. With the College unable to collect on some promised pledges after Sanders had resigned, and the enrollment increase plans failing, the Diocese settled the loan debt with the College in 2015 for $996,000, less than the agreed amount, and with $1 million of the repayment made in shares of an unidentified LLC company.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Jane OMeara 1950 births 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century Roman Catholics American community activists American people of Irish descent American Roman Catholics American social workers Heads of universities and colleges in the United States American women academics Bernie Sanders Goddard College alumni Living people People from Brooklyn People from Burlington, Vermont Union Institute & University alumni University of Tennessee alumni Activists from New York (state) Activists from Vermont Women heads of universities and colleges 21st-century American women American women founders