KERRY HEALEY served as Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 2003-2007. Healey assumed a broad range of responsibilities in the Romney-Healey administration, including leading the administrations' successful efforts to strengthen drunken driving penalties, establish a witness protection and gang violence prevention program, increase penalties and supervision for sex offenders, and increase protections for victims of child abuse, sexual assault and domestic violence. Healey chaired the Governor's Council, the body responsible for the confirmation of judges; the Interagency Council on Homelessness; the Interagency Council on Substance Abuse and Prevention; the Governor's Council on Sexual and Domestic Violence; the Seaport Council, a group responsible for funding port security and development of the maritime economy, and co-chaired the state's five Regional Competitiveness Councils. Healey served as the principal contact for municipal leaders in the Romney-Healey administration. She is most proud of her role in helping to found three Recovery High Schools to provide drug-free learning environments for students in recovery, and in reducing drunk-driving related deaths on Massachusetts' roads thanks to Melanie's Law.

Healey graduated from Harvard College in 1982, and was awarded a Rotary International Scholarship. She earned a Ph.D. in political science and law from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. In 1985, Healey was a visiting researcher in the International and Comparative Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School. She continues to pursue her interest in international affairs as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. For more than a decade, Healey worked as a law and public safety consultant at Abt Associates, Inc., in Cambridge, MA, conducting research for the U.S. Department of Justice related to child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, gang violence, victim and witness intimidation and the prosecution of drug crimes. Healey was elected Chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party in 2001.