Before Barbara Lawton became the first woman elected to serve as Wisconsin’s Lieutenant Governor, she was a spouse and a mom, a non-traditional student, a business advisor on international culture, a grandmother and, always, a citizen actively engaged in improving her community.

Lt. Governor Lawton’s conviction that state government can serve to strengthen our families and communities more responsively and be affordable drives an ambitious agenda defined by her lifelong commitment to public education, accessible health care and clean government.

Her economic development initiative, Wisconsin Women = Prosperity, has received national recognition as an unprecedented public, private, non-profit and non-partisan partnership. It engages thousands of citizens in communities across the state, working in concert to promote effective practices in the private sector and better public policy to ensure Wisconsin women can make their best contribution to a sustainable, growing economy.

As chair of the Wisconsin Arts Board, Lt. Governor Lawton draws the administration’s attention to the central role our arts and cultural sector plays in revitalizing communities and driving growth in a 21st century economy. As honorary chair of Wisconsin United for Mental Health, she advocates widely to remove the stigma from mental illness and to open access to health care and recovery – clearing the path to productive lives for countless Wisconsin citizens.

Lt. Governor Lawton served as spokesperson on Chief Justice Heffernan’s Citizen Commission for a Clean Elections Option and on the boards of Northeastern Wisconsin Technical College Foundation and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin. She was a founder of the Educational Resource Foundation and Greater Green Bay Area Community Foundation. She is a member of the League of Women Voters and the American Association of University Women.

Lt. Governor Lawton helped establish Green Bay’s Multicultural Center, and she received the first Founders’ Award for her service on the advisory board to Entrepreneurs of Color.

Lt. Governor Lawton is a native of Southeastern Wisconsin and lived in Green Bay for more 30 years where she and her husband, Cal, raised their children, Amanda and Joseph. The Lawtons also lived in Mexico and Chile. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Lawrence University and a master’s degree in Spanish at UW-Madison.