On April 27, 2017 Eleni Kounalakis announced her run for California’s Lieutenant Governor. A primary election took place on June 5, 2018, in which Eleni Kounalakis received 24.23 percent of the vote and Ed Hernandez received 20.56 percent of the vote. The general election is on November 6, 2018.

In 1992 Eleni Kounalakis started her career as a staff member of the California Democratic Party in Sacramento. After the election, Eleni joined her family business, AKT Development, a California Housing Development firm. Over the next 18 years Eleni worked her way up from project manager to President. Her work involved creating housing for middle class families in the Sacramento region.

In 2010 Eleni was appointed by President Barack Obama as the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, a position she filled until 2013. After leaving her post in 2013, she authored the book Madam Ambassador, Three Years of Diplomacy, Dinner Parties and Democracy in Budapest, published in 2015.

Eleni is passionate about early childhood development. She served on California’s First 5 Commission and the California Blue Ribbon Commission on Autism. She was appointed to the San Francisco Port Commission in 2016, and currently chairs the California Advisory Council for International Trade and Investment.

Eleni graduated from Dartmouth College in 1989, earned her MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and holds an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the American College of Greece. With her husband, Markos and their sons Neo and Eon, she resides in San Francisco.

Robin Greenberg

Public Policy Chair