Ivey, Kay, 1944-

<p>Kay Ellen Ivey (born October 15, 1944) is an American politician serving as the 54th and current governor of Alabama since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, she was the 38th Alabama state treasurer from 2003 to 2011 and the 30th lieutenant governor of Alabama from 2011 to 2017.</p>

<p>Ivey became Alabama's second female governor and first female Republican governor upon the resignation of her predecessor, Robert J. Bentley. She won a full term in the 2018 gubernatorial election by a wide margin against challenger Walt Maddox. At age 76, Ivey is the oldest governor in the United States.</p>

<p>Kay Ivey (1944- ) is the 54th governor of Alabama and the second woman to be governor. Prior to holding this office, she served as the State Treasurer from 2003 to 2011 and as Lieutenant Governor from 2011 to 2017. She ascended to the governor's office after her predecessor, Robert Bentley, resigned from over alleged misuse of state funds and sexual improprieties, and completed his final year in office. Ivey, a former Democrat, was reelected to a full term in 2018.</p>

<p>Kay Ellen Ivey was born on October 15, 1944, in Camden, Wilcox County, to Boadman Nettles Ivey, an employee of the federal Farmers Home Administration and a farmer, and Barbara Elizabeth Nettles Ivey. She is an only child. Her father was a veteran of World War II who served with an artillery regiment in Europe and achieved the rank of major. Ivey attended local schools in Camden, winning the Wilcox County Junior Miss pageant and participating in the American Legion Auxiliary's Girls State summer leadership and citizenship program. She would go on to teach in the program for some 30 years. She showed leadership skills early on at present-day Wilcox Central High School, serving as a state officer in the Future Homemaker's of America, vice president of her senior class, and band president among other positions.</p>

<p>Ivey entered Auburn University in Auburn, Lee County, in 1963, where she quickly became involved in campus political organizations and joined the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority. At the time, women were expected to join the women-only student government association. But Ivey joined the campus-wide organization, the Student Government Association (SGA) as a senator and served all four of her college years, being class vice president in her senior year. She also was gubernatorial candidate Lurleen Wallace's campaign coordinator among AU's student body. Ivey participated in a "black face" skit while at Auburn, an episode that came to light in 2019 after the governor and attorney general of Virginia were accused of a similar acts. She said she did not remember doing the skit and apologized to the news media. Ivey graduated in 1967 with a degree in secondary education and in August of that year married fellow student Ben LaRavia. The couple moved to Sacramento, California, and Ivey taught high school for several years. The marriage failed, and Ivey returned to Alabama in 1969 and took a job with Merchants National Bank in Mobile, Mobile County, where she served as a liaison to local schools teaching financial literacy.</p>