Kelly Loeffler

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Kelly Loeffler is businesswoman turned politician who served for a year as a U.S. Senator from the state of Georgia after she was appointed to finish a departing senator's term in 2020. She ran for but did not win election in the general election in 2020. 
Before entering politics when she was appointed to the U.S. Senate in December of 2019, Loeffler was the founder and former CEO of Bakkt, a digital asset services subsidiary of the Intercontinental Exchange.
On December 4, 2019, Loeffler was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, to fill the seat of Senator Johnny Isakson, who stepped down due to health reasons. She took the oath of office on January 6, 2020. Mike Blandina took over as the CEO of Bakkt on December 20, 2019.
Before taking the Bakkt post, she served as chief communications and marketing officer at Intercontinental Exchange. The company announced in March 2018 that she would be stepping down from the position at the end of 2018. She had been with ICE for 16 years. 
Loeffler was responsible for ICE's investor relations, public relations, corporate communications, marketing and brand strategy. 
She is married to ICE founder and CEO Jeffrey Sprecher. 
== Background ==
Loeffler is credited for playing a key role in the early development of the Intercontinental Exchange, joining the company in 2002. During her tenure at ICE, she rose to become a member of the executive management committee and expanded her duties from communications and marketing to overseeing all aspects of the company's brand, marketing strategy, digital platforms, sustainability initiatives and investor relations. She was part of the team that took ICE through the IPO process in 2005.
Before joining ICE, Loeffler worked in investor relations at the private equity firm, Crossroads Investment Advisers, L.P. Before that, she worked in equity research at William Blair & Company and at Citi Global Asset Management.
In 2013, Loeffler considered a run for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate from the state of Georgia, but declined saying "the timing wasn't right." 
She is a member of the Women In Listed Derivatives' Steering Committee.
She is also part owner of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream.
In September 2019, she was elected to the board of directors of Georgia Power, the largest subsidiary of Southern Company.
She is also a board trustee for the Georgia Research Alliance and on the boards of Grady Memorial Hospital Corporation, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Skyland Trail, a nonprofit mental health treatment organization based in Atlanta. 
She grew up on a soybean farm near Bloomington, IL. She was active in 4H while growing up and participated in cross-country and basketball in high school.
 
== Education ==
Loeffler graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelors in business administration. She completed a master of business administration at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University in Chicago.
==Podcasts==
===Inside the ICE House===
== References ==	
Category:ICE
Category:Public Relations Professionals
Category:Corporate Communications Professionals
Category:Marketing Professionals
Category:Intercontinental Exchange - Former Employees
Category:William Blair - Former Employees
Category:Politicians
Category:U.S. Senate - Members