About Barbara Lawton
Barbara Lawton, of Green Bay, focuses her efforts as lieutenant governor on economic development – putting people to work through strategic investments in a creative workforce and the green economy.
Called "Wisconsin's green leader" by the Capital Times, Lt. Governor Lawton recognizes Wisconsin's potential to lead the way in addressing global climate change and, in so doing, claim our share of the green economy – projected to grow into a $500 billion industry in the next ten years. Her Green Economy Agenda aims to offer incentives for energy efficiency and to expand opportunities for sustainable businesses. She works with local governments to shape their response to global climate change and develop strategies that will strengthen regional economies. She led a national effort to support an ambitious Energy Independence and Global Climate Change Resolution, prompting Madison's WISC-TV editorial board to dub her "one of our best."
Lawton serves on the National Leadership Council for the American Association of Colleges and Universities, leading Wisconsin's pilot of their ten-year national campaign to champion the deep public value of higher education for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity.
As chair of the Wisconsin Arts Board, Lt. Governor Lawton led the agency to realign its efforts to move Wisconsin's creative economy forward through development of a strong arts and culture industry in every part of the state. She led the successful effort to pass legislation creating tax incentives for the film and video game industry in Wisconsin, which is already generating millions of new dollars for Wisconsin's economy. Lawton's leadership and the work of the Arts Board was recognized with her invitation to represent the states' interests on an exclusive National Arts Policy Roundtable convened by Robert Redford and Americans for the Arts at the Sundance Preserve last fall to address the topic "Thinking Creatively, Working Globally: The Role of the Arts in Building a 21st Century American Workforce." Lawton's work also earned her an invitation to serve on a high-level think tank convened by the Aspen Institute to develop arts policy recommendations for the next president of the U.S.
Lawton earned national and international recognition for her groundbreaking economic development initiative, Wisconsin Women = Prosperity, which the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel praised saying the, “ambitious initiative aims to improve the economic status of women in Wisconsin by removing roadblocks.” As a result, Lawton was honored as the only U.S. elected official to participate in the International Women Leaders Global Security Summit co-convened by the former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, and former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell.
Lawton is the Chair of the National Lieutenant Governors Association. She leads a multi-agency project to expand access to opportunity in Wisconsin for disadvantaged, minority and women-owned businesses. She is the honorary chair of Wisconsin United for Mental Health and led a Task Force on Women and Depression, whose recommendations are improving access to mental health care and the quality and delivery of those services.
Barbara Lawton was born on July 5, 1951 in Wisconsin. She graduated from Waterford Union High School, summa cum laude from Lawrence University and earned a master's degree in Spanish from UW-Madison. In 2008, she received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Lawrence University and an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Milwaukee Institute of Arts and Design. She and husband Charles "Cal" Lawton have two children, Amanda and Joseph, both graduates of Green Bay East High School and Macalester College, and four grandchildren. The family lived in Green Bay for over 30 years; their permanent home now is near Algoma. She took office as Wisconsin's 43rd lieutenant on January 3, 2003 and was re-elected in 2006.
Barbara Lawton's route to becoming Wisconsin's first woman elected lieutenant governor started with a different kind of public service. As a founder of the Greater Green Bay Area Community Foundation and the Multicultural Center, as an advisor to Entrepreneurs of Color, in service on various Boards, including that of the Northeast Wisconsin Technical College Foundation, and as a consultant to businesses expanding internationally, she is firmly grounded in community. Her thinking and action on the important issues of the day reflect her confidence in the people as this state's greatest resource.
