Gwen Walz (; born June 15, 1966) is an American educator and public school administrator. She is the 39th

First Lady of Minnesota The First Lady of Minnesota is an honorary position granted to the wife of the governor of Minnesota, Governor of the State of Minnesota. To date there have been no female governors of the State of Minnesota, and all first spouses have been firs ...

as of 2019 and the wife of Governor

Tim Walz Timothy James Walz (; born April 6, 1964) is an American politician who has served since 2019 as the 41st governor of Minnesota. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States, vice pre ...

. Her husband was the Democratic Party candidate for vice president in the

2024 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's Ticket (election), ticket—Donald Trump, who was the 45th president of ...

. Prior to her husband's election as

Governor of Minnesota The governor of Minnesota is the head of government of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty people have been governor of Minnesota, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory ...

, Walz worked for over two decades in the public school system as an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

teacher. Her first teaching job was in

Alliance, Nebraska Alliance is a city in and the county seat of Box Butte County, Nebraska, Box Butte County, in the western part of the state of Nebraska, in the Great Plains region of the United States. Its population was 8,151 at the 2020 census. Alliance is ho ...

, where she met her future husband and fellow educator, Tim Walz. In 1996, she and Walz moved to her native

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

where they both taught in the

Mankato Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is the county seat of Blue Earth County, Minnesota. The population was 44,488 at the 2020 census, making it the 21st-largest city in Mi ...

public schools. Retiring and moving to

Saint Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

when her husband became governor in 2019, she is the only first lady in Minnesota's history to have an office in the

Minnesota State Capitol The Minnesota State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Minnesota, in its capital (political), capital city of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul. It houses the Minnesota Senate, Minnesota House of Representatives, the offic ...

. Walz oversees a policy portfolio focusing on education,

corrections In criminal justice, particularly in North America, correction, corrections, and correctional, are umbrella terms describing a variety of functions typically carried out by government agencies, and involving the punishment, treatment, and s ...

, and gun control legislation.

Early life and education

Gwen Whipple was born in 1966 in

Glencoe, Minnesota Glencoe ( ) is a city and the county seat of McLeod County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 5,744 at the 2020 census. History Glencoe was laid out in 1855 and named after Glen Coe in Scotland. A post office has been in operation ...

and was raised in Ivanhoe, Minnesota. She is the daughter of Val and Linnea "Linn" (née Wacker) Whipple. Her father worked as an insurance agent who owned Whipple Insurance Agency in Ivanhoe MN, as well as a basketball coach. Her mother was a Physical Education teacher and served as the community education director for a school district. She has two younger sisters Karrie Duncan and Heidi Ohlmann. She earned a

bachelor of arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree at

Gustavus Adolphus College Gustavus Adolphus College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in St. Peter, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1862 by Swedish Americans led by Eric Norelius and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Gustavu ...

and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

Minnesota State University Minnesota State University, Mankato (MNSU, MSU, or Minnesota State) is a public university in Mankato, Minnesota, United States. It is Minnesota's second-largest university and has over 145,000 living alumni worldwide. Founded in 1868, it is t ...

Career and public life

After graduating from college, Walz relocated to western

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

and began a career as an English teacher. From 2004 to 2018, she was the assessment coordinator for the

Area Public Schools. Walz joined

Augsburg University Augsburg University is a private university in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was founded in 1869 as a Norwegian-American Lutheran seminary known as Augsburg Seminari ...

in 2019 as a special assistant to the president Paul C. Pribbenow working twenty hours a week on various projects, including one that helped train East African immigrant teachers. In 2019, she worked on government relations and public service career projects for students at Augsburg University. Together with her husband, Walz established Educational Travel Adventures Inc., an organization that offered annual trips for students to China. She has worked with the

Bard Prison Initiative The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) is a program of Bard College that provides college education to people in prison. BPI currently enrolls 400 students full-time across seven prisons in New York State. It engage students in the full breadth of libera ...

to help incarcerated people afford higher education opportunities. Walz became

upon her husband taking office as governor in 2019. She has had an active and public role in shaping state policies. Walz has given public speeches in favor of restoring voting rights to convicted felons, which Minnesota did under her husband's administration in 2023, and has advocated for gun control legislation. She is the only First Lady of Minnesota to have an office in the

. Walz manages a policy portfolio including education and

. In 2024, her husband was announced as the Democratic vice presidential candidate for the

. Walz is on the board of the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games.

Personal life

Walz is

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

. She married

on June 4, 1994, when both were working as teachers. They have two children. She underwent

intrauterine insemination Artificial insemination is the deliberate introduction of sperm into a female's cervix or uterine cavity for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through in vivo fertilization by means other than sexual intercourse. It is a fertility treatment ...

before giving birth to their daughter and first child, Hope, in 2001; a second child, Gus, followed in 2006.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Walz, Gwen Living people 1966 births 20th-century American women educators 21st-century American women educators American high school teachers American school administrators Augsburg University faculty Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Christians First ladies and gentlemen of Minnesota Gustavus Adolphus College alumni Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign Lutherans from Minnesota Minnesota Democrats Minnesota State University, Mankato alumni People associated with the 2024 United States presidential election People from Glencoe, Minnesota People from Lincoln County, Minnesota Schoolteachers from Minnesota Spouses of Minnesota politicians Tim Walz Women in Minnesota politics