Jane Fleming Kleeb ( ) is an American political executive and activist. She is the founder and president of Bold Alliance, Chair of the

Nebraska Democratic Party The Nebraska Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Nebraska. Over 700 Democrats are elected across the state of Nebraska. Jane Kleeb is the chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party and also serves as the Midwest ...

and a board member of

Our Revolution Our Revolution (sometimes known by its initials OR) is an American progressive political action organization spun out of Senator Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign to continue its work. The organization's mission is to educate vote ...

and Matriarch PAC.

Early life and education

Kleeb was born and raised in

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

, where her mother was head of Broward County Right to Life. Kleeb earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Stetson University Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I–4 corridor in Central Florida with the primary undergraduate campus in DeLand. The university was founded in 1883 and was later established in 1887 ...

, where she studied religious and leadership studies. In 2001, she earned a Master of Arts in International Training and Education from

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

Career

Kleeb began her career as Executive Director of AmeriCorps Tallahassee in 1996. She was Executive Director of Renfrew Center Foundation for Eating Disorders where she helped to develop a program that stresses activism as a tool for recovery, later she became the lead consultant on the 2006 documentary film ''

Thin Thin may refer to: * a lean body shape. ''(See also: emaciation, underweight)'' * ''Thin'' (film), a 2006 HBO documentary about eating disorders * Paper Thin (disambiguation), referring to multiple songs * Thin (web server), a Ruby web-server b ...

''. Afterward she became the executive director of

Young Democrats of America The Young Democrats of America (YDA) is the youth wing of the Democratic Party of the United States. YDA operates as a separate organization from the Democratic National Committee; following the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, it ...

where she met her husband

Scott Kleeb Scott Michael Kleeb (born August 23, 1975) is an American businessman and politician. He is the former CEO and President of Energy Pioneer Solutions, a company that created and then sold a new data-driven model for energy efficiency issues that f ...

while he was campaigning for a congressional seat. She then worked as an MTV Street Teamer during her husband's 2008 campaign for U.S. Senate. In 2008, she worked as the Nebraska State Director for ''Change That Works'', an effort to influence Senator

Ben Nelson Earl Benjamin Nelson (born May 17, 1941) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 37th governor of Nebraska from 1991 to 1999 and as a United States Senator from Nebraska from 2001 to 2013. He is a member of the De ...

's vote on

healthcare reform Health care reform is for the most part governmental policy that affects health care delivery in a given place. Health care reform typically attempts to: * Broaden the population that receives health care coverage through either public sector insur ...

. In 2010, she was elected to the Hastings School Board.

Bold Nebraska

In 2010 Bold Nebraska was formed with the objective of pushing progressive ideas in rural Nebraska. It quickly became the primary opposition organization in the state against the proposed

Keystone XL pipeline The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010 and owned by TC Energy and as of 31 March 2020 the Government of Alberta. It runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Alberta ...

. After witnessing the opposition in a

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

hearing in

York, Nebraska York is a city in and the county seat of York County, Nebraska, United States. At the 2010 census, the city population was 7,766. It is the home of York College and the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women. History York was platted in 1869. ...

Kleeb began organizing locals. She garnered the support of local landowner Randy Thompson and Omaha lawyer

David Domina David Alan Domina is an American lawyer and politician from Nebraska. A member of the Democratic Party, he was involved in a number of high-profile legal cases, including the impeachment of Nebraska Attorney General Paul L. Douglas in 1986, and ...

. Kleeb and Thompson held meetings with landowners and locals who would be affected by the pipeline, either farms in the direct path or ranches that depend on the

Ogallala Aquifer The Ogallala Aquifer () is a shallow water table aquifer surrounded by sand, silt, clay, and gravel located beneath the Great Plains in the United States. One of the world's largest aquifers, it underlies an area of approximately in porti ...

. In 2011 Thompson was used as the face of the movement with the slogan, "Stand With Randy." The campaign eventually led to the University of Nebraska cutting advertising ties with TransCanada. By the end of 2011 the pipeline had become a national issue. In 2016 the organization fell under the newly-formed Bold Alliance of which Kleeb is the founder and president.

Nebraska Democratic Party

In June 2016 Kleeb was elected as Chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party by 42 votes out of 410 cast defeating 2014 gubernatorial nominee Chuck Hassebrook, with

Frank LaMere Franklin Dean LaMere (March 1, 1950 – June 16, 2019) was an American activist and politician. He was a member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska from South Sioux City, and the son of a Gold Star Mother and a combat veteran father. He was a me ...

winning first vice-chair.

Our Revolution

On August 29, 2016, it was announced that Kleeb would serve as the treasurer and board member of

, a progressive

501(c) organization A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) and is one of over 29 types of nonprofit organizations exe ...

created as an offshoot of the

Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign In the 2016 presidential campaign, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders sought the Democratic Party's nomination in a field of six major candidates and was the runner up with 46% of the pledged delegates behind former Secretary of State Hillary C ...

Personal life

She lives in

Hastings, Nebraska Hastings is a List of cities in Nebraska, city and the county seat of Adams County, Nebraska, Adams County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 25,152 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is known as the town where Kool-Aid ...

with her husband

and their three daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kleeb, Jane Fleming Activists from Nebraska American political activists Living people Nebraska Democrats American University alumni Stetson University alumni People from Hastings, Nebraska State political party chairs of Nebraska Women in Nebraska politics Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women