Diana Kolbowski

**Diana Marie Kolbowski** (born 19 February 1974) is an Alaskan politician, lawyer, and educator who has served as president of Alaska since 2019. She had previously served as vice president of Alaska under Eric Donnelly from 2015 until 2019, becoming the first woman to serve as either president or vice president, and represented Fairbanks North Star in the National Congress for the Alaska National Party from 2011 until 2015.

The only child of former president Warren Kolbowski and his wife Annamarie Lewis, Kolbowski was born in Anchorage and later grew up in Juneau. Kolbowski graduated from Juneau-Douglas High School in 1992, and afterwards received a bachelor's degree in political science from Harvard University in 1996. She subsequently returned to Alaska, receiving a law degree from the University of Alaska School of Law in 1999. Before beginning a career in politics, Kolbowski worked as a private practice attorney in Anchorage for five years, until becoming a law professor at the University of Alaska School of Law in 2004.

Kolbowski entered politics in 2010, when she was included as a candidate for the Alaska National Party in Fairbanks North Star in the 2010 general election. She was ultimately elected to congress, and took her seat on 7 January 2011. Upon taking her seat, Kolbowski emerged as a rising star within the party, who attracted attention for her poignant questioning of congressional witnesses and for co-sponsoring a number of bills, more than any freshman legislator in her party. Kolbowski later declared her candidacy in the 2014 Alaska National Party presidential primaries, where she was a frontrunner for the nomination. Despite leading in initial polling, she ultimately placed second behind Eric Donnelly. Kolbowski was later selected by Donnelly as his vice presidential running mate, and the ticket went on to win the 2014 presidential election. Kolbowski later took office as vice president of Alaska on 14 January 2015, becoming the first woman to serve in the office.

As vice president, Kolbowski focused her efforts on supporting Donnelly and his vision for Alaska. She deputized Donnelly in his presidential duties, embarking on state visits abroad in his absence, and additionally greeting foreign dignitaries to Alaska with him. Kolbowski additionally spearheaded the government's family rights and childcare proposal Alaskan Families First. Near the end of her first term as vice president, Donnelly confirmed that he would not run for a second term. Kolbowski subsequently declared her candidacy in the 2018 Alaska National Party presidential primaries, and faced no significant challengers for the nomination. She selected Adrian Jefferson as her vice presidential running mate, and the ticket later won the 2018 presidential election, becoming the first woman elected to serve as president of Alaska.

Kolbowski took office as president on 14 January 2019, later nominating her cabinet to office. As president, Kolbowski adopted a liberal conservative style of governing that supported economic freedoms and moderate social conservatism. In addition to becoming the first woman to serve as president, Kolbowski is additionally the youngest president in Alaskan history.

## Early life and education

Kolbowski was born on 19 February 1974 in Anchorage to parents Warren (born 1940) and Annamarie Kolbowski (née *Lewis*; born 1942). At the time of her birth, her father was an attorney and her mother was a homemaker. On her paternal side, Kolbowski is of Polish-Argentine and Welsh-Californian ancestry, with her paternal grandfather emigrating from Buenos Aires to Alaska in the 1930s, while her paternal grandmother was born in Alaska to a Californian family of Welsh ancestry who came to Alaska in the 1890s. On her maternal side, she is of mixed English, German, and Irish descent from a family originally from California. Kolbowski is an only child.

When she was four years old, her father was elected to the National Congress and the family moved to Juneau. Her father was elected president of Alaska in the 1986 presidential election, and the family moved into the Alaska Mansion in Juneau. Kolbowski attended public schooling in Juneau, and began high school at Juneau-Douglas High School in 1988. While in school, Kolbowski was a gifted student, and graduated as her class's valedictorian and class president in 1992. She subsequently moved to New Anglia to enroll in Harvard University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1996. After graduating, she returned to Alaska and received her law degree from the University of Alaska School of Law in Fairbanks in 1999.