<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleni Kounalakis</span>

Eleni Kounalakis

<p><b>Eleni Kounalakis</b> (née <b>Tsakopoulos</b>; born March 3, 1966) is an American politician, businesswoman, and former diplomat serving as the 50th <a href="/en/Lieutenant_governor_of_California" title="Lieutenant governor of California" class="mw-redirect wl">lieutenant governor of California</a> since 2019. A member of the <a href="/en/Democratic_Party_(United_States)" title="Democratic Party (United States)" class="wl">Democratic Party</a>, she is the first woman elected to the office.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;" data-mw-group="lower-alpha"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[lower-alpha 1]</span></a></span></p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">American politician (born 1966)</div>
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<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Eleni Kounalakis, 50th Lieutenant Governor of...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox vcard mobile-collapse-element"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above" style="font-size: 100%;"><div class="fn" style="font-size:125%;">Eleni Kounalakis</div></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><span class="mw-default-size"><a href="/en/File:Eleni_Kounalakis_in_2021.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Eleni_Kounalakis_in_2021.jpg"><img loading="lazy"alt="Kounalakis in 2021" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Eleni_Kounalakis_in_2021.jpg/220px-Eleni_Kounalakis_in_2021.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="939" data-file-height="1265" data-file-type="bitmap" height="296" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Eleni_Kounalakis_in_2021.jpg/330px-Eleni_Kounalakis_in_2021.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Eleni_Kounalakis_in_2021.jpg/440px-Eleni_Kounalakis_in_2021.jpg 2x"></a></span><div class="infobox-caption" style="line-height:normal;padding-top:0.2em;">Kounalakis in 2021</div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data"></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background:lavender;line-height:normal;padding:0.2em;">50th <a href="/en/Lieutenant_Governor_of_California" title="Lieutenant Governor of California" class="wl">Lieutenant Governor of California</a></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data" style="border-bottom:none"><div style="width:100%; margin:0; background-color: lavender" class="notheme"><b><a href="/en/Incumbent" title="Incumbent" class="wl">Incumbent</a></b></div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data" style="border-bottom:none"><span class="nowrap"><b>Assumed office</b></span><span> </span><br>January 7, 2019</td><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles"></style></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="text-align:left">Governor</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Gavin_Newsom" title="Gavin Newsom" class="wl">Gavin Newsom</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="text-align:left"><span class="nowrap">Preceded by</span></th><td class="infobox-data">Gavin Newsom</td><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles"></style></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background:lavender;line-height:normal;padding:0.2em;"><a href="/en/United_States_Ambassador_to_Hungary" title="United States Ambassador to Hungary" class="mw-redirect wl">United States Ambassador to <span class="nowrap">Hungary</span></a> </th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data" style="border-bottom:none"><span class="nowrap"><b>In office</b></span><br>January 11, 2010<span>&nbsp;</span>–<span> </span>July 20, 2013</td><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles"></style></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="text-align:left">President</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Barack_Obama" title="Barack Obama" class="wl">Barack Obama</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="text-align:left"><span class="nowrap">Preceded by</span></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/April_H._Foley" title="April H. Foley" class="wl">April H. Foley</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="text-align:left"><span class="nowrap">Succeeded by</span></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Colleen_Bell" title="Colleen Bell" class="wl">Colleen Bell</a></td></tr><tr style="display:none"><td colspan="2">
</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background:lavender">Personal details</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Born</th><td class="infobox-data"><div style="display:inline" class="nickname">Eleni Tsakopoulos</div><br><span style="display:none"> (<span class="bday">1966-03-03</span>) </span>March 3, 1966<span class="noprint ForceAgeToShow"> (age<span>&nbsp;</span>57)</span><br><a href="/en/Sacramento,_California" title="Sacramento, California" class="wl">Sacramento, California</a>, U.S.</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Political party</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Democratic_Party_(United_States)" title="Democratic Party (United States)" class="wl">Democratic</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Spouse</th><td class="infobox-data"><div style="display:inline;white-space:nowrap;"><div style="display:inline-block;line-height:normal;"><a href="/en/Markos_Kounalakis" title="Markos Kounalakis" class="wl">Markos Kounalakis</a></div><span> </span><div style="display:inline-block;"><span>​</span></div><span>(</span><abbr about="#mwt16" typeof="mw:ExpandedAttrs" data-mw="{&quot;attribs&quot;:[[{&quot;txt&quot;:&quot;title&quot;},{&quot;html&quot;:&quot;<span typeof=\&quot;mw:Nowiki\&quot; data-parsoid=\&quot;{}\&quot;>married</span>&quot;}]]}">m.</abbr><span>&nbsp;</span>2000<span>)</span><wbr><span>​</span></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Children</th><td class="infobox-data">2</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Relatives</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Angelo_Tsakopoulos" title="Angelo Tsakopoulos" class="wl">Angelo Tsakopoulos</a> (father)<br><a href="/en/George_Tsakopoulos" title="George Tsakopoulos" class="wl">George Tsakopoulos</a> (uncle)<br><a href="/en/George_Demos" title="George Demos" class="wl">George Demos</a> (brother-in-law)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Education</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Dartmouth_College" title="Dartmouth College" class="wl">Dartmouth College</a> (<a href="/en/Bachelor_of_Arts" title="Bachelor of Arts" class="wl">BA</a>)<br><a href="/en/University_of_California,_Berkeley" title="University of California, Berkeley" class="wl">University of California, Berkeley</a> (<a href="/en/Master_of_Business_Administration" title="Master of Business Administration" class="wl">MBA</a>)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Website</th><td class="infobox-data"><span class="url"><a rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow" href="https://ltg.ca.gov" class="external text" target="_blank">Government website</a></span></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-below" style="border-top: 1px solid right; font-size: 95%"><div></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'><b>Close</b> <span class='arrow'>▲</span></footer></div>
<p>Kounalakis previously served as the <a href="/en/United_States_Ambassador_to_Hungary" title="United States Ambassador to Hungary" class="mw-redirect wl">United States Ambassador to Hungary</a> from 2010 to 2013. She was sworn into office on January 7, 2010, and presented her credentials to <a href="/en/President_of_Hungary" title="President of Hungary" class="wl">President</a> <a href="/en/László_Sólyom" title="László Sólyom" class="wl">László Sólyom</a> on January 11, 2010. On April 24, 2017, Kounalakis announced her bid for the office of <a href="/en/Lieutenant_Governor_of_California" title="Lieutenant Governor of California" class="wl">Lieutenant Governor of California</a> in the <a href="/en/2018_California_lieutenant_gubernatorial_election" title="2018 California lieutenant gubernatorial election" class="wl">2018 election</a>. She came in first place in the June 5, 2018 primary election;<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="#cite_note-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span> she was elected on November 6, 2018.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-3"><a href="#cite_note-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span></p>



Eleni Kounalakis is an American politician, businesswoman, and former diplomat serving as the 50th lieutenant governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the first woman elected to the office. Kounalakis previously served as the United States Ambassador to Hungary from 2010 to 2013. She was sworn into office on January 7, 2010, and presented her credentials to President László Sólyom on January 11, 2010. On April 24, 2017, Kounalakis announced her bid for the office of Lieutenant Governor of California in the 2018 election. She came in first place in the June 5, 2018 primary election; 