Kathleen Falk

Kathleen Falk
Kathleen Falk in the 2009 St. Patrick's Day Parade, Madison WI
4th Executive of Dane County
In office
April 21, 1997 – April 18, 2011
Preceded byRichard J. Phelps
Succeeded byJoe Parisi
Assistant Attorney General of Wisconsin
In office
1983–1997
Personal details
Born (1951-06-26) June 26, 1951 (age 73)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpousePeter Bock (m. 2002)
ChildrenEric Phillips
Residence(s)Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Wisconsin Law School (J.D.)
Stanford University (B.A.)
ProfessionAttorney, politician, policymaker

Kathleen Falk (born June 26, 1951) is an American attorney, politician, and policymaker from Wisconsin who served as Dane County Executive from 1997 until 2011. In 2013, she was appointed Regional Director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Region Five.[1]

A Democrat, Falk unsuccessfully sought the party's nomination for Governor of Wisconsin in 2002 and in the 2012 recall election. In 2006, Falk defeated Democratic Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager to win the party's nomination for Attorney General, but was defeated by Republican J. B. Van Hollen in the general election.

Prior to running for elected office, Falk was a prosecutor and public-interest attorney. From 1983 to 1997, she was an assistant attorney general and public intervenor in the Wisconsin Department of Justice; she previously worked as a co-director and legal counsel of Wisconsin's Environmental Decade, an advocacy organization. Falk is the only woman to serve as Dane County Executive and was the first woman to seek a major party's gubernatorial nomination in Wisconsin.[2]

  1. ^ "Kathleen Falk appointed as regional HHS director". 4 September 2013.
  2. ^ DeFour, Matthew. "Wisconsin's First Major Female Gubernatorial Nominee". Governing. Tribune News Service. Retrieved 18 October 2015.