BIOGRAPHY OF PUBLIC SERVICE

State Representative Kimberly Yee, a native of Phoenix, Arizona, was born and raised in the heart of Legislative District 10. She has a distinguished career in public policy and governmental service working in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. 

 

Kimberly serves as Vice Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Education.  She is also a member of the Committee on Employment and Regulatory Affairs and the Committee on Health and Human Services.  Kimberly is also a legislative member of the Arizona State Board of Charter Schools. 

 

EXPERIENCE AND LEADERSHIP IN DISTRICT 10

The voters of Arizona's 10th Legislative District elected Kimberly as State Representative in November of 2010.  She had previously been appointed to the seat in August of 2010. 

Kimberly was elected in 2006 as the Chairman of the Legislative District 10 Republican Committee and has served for many years as an elected precinct committeeman and state committeeman. She has also served as a member of the Executive Guidance Committee of the Maricopa County Republicans.

 

In 2008, she was elected as a national delegate and proudly represented her home state of Arizona at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. During the convention, Kimberly was a daily correspondent providing news updates for national KLOVE and AIR 1 radio broadcasting, SIRIUS Satellite Radio, the Arizona Republic and the FOX Broadcasting Network, including FOX 10 Arizona News.

 

EDUCATION

Kimberly is an example of homegrown leadership as she was educated in the schools of District 10, including Tumbleweed Elementary School, Sunburst Elementary School and Desert Foothills Junior High School. She is a graduate of Greenway High School.

 

Kimberly later graduated from Pepperdine University, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and a Bachelor’s Degree in English. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Arizona State University and was the recipient of the honored Scholar-Citizen Award.

 

PUBLIC SERVICE AND POLICY EXPERTISE

Kimberly has committed her professional life to public service for 16 years and has served under the executive administrations of two governors, a state treasurer and a state superintendent of public administration.

 

APPOINTED BY TREASURER DEAN MARTIN

Kimberly has served Arizona State Treasurer Dean Martin as Director of Communications and Government Affairs promoting sound fiscal conservative principles and advancing laws protecting the pocketbooks of hard-working Arizona citizens, taxpayers and consumers.

 

APPOINTED BY GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

In 2004, Kimberly was appointed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as his Deputy Cabinet Secretary and was a member of Governor Schwarzenegger’s Cabinet. She served as the Governor’s liaison to the executive branch state agencies and provided policy advisement to the Governor in the areas of K-12, vocational, and higher education, state and consumer services, labor and workforce development, and the California Performance Review.

 

ARIZONA LEGISLATIVE EXPERIENCE

With real Capitol experience at the Arizona Legislature, Kimberly served as senior staff to the Senate Committee on Education for the Arizona Legislature from 1998 to 2003 where she gained first-hand experience in the legislative process and helped draft many of Arizona’s state laws to improve and advance the state’s public education system, including the areas of preschool, elementary and secondary education, charter schools, vocational education and workforce training programs, community colleges and universities.

 

APPOINTED BY GOVERNOR PETE WILSON

In 1997, Kimberly was appointed by Governor Pete Wilson and took an oath of office serving as the state’s policy analyst to the State Board of Education helping develop the state’s academic content standards outlining what students should be able to know in various subjects by the end of each grade level. State tests are aligned with these rigorous academic standards to measure student achievement.

 

FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENT

Kimberly began her career in public service as a Fellow to the prestigious California Executive Fellowship Program in 1996, and served her term in the office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, specializing in child care, preschool development, and K-12 education and children’s issues.

 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE EXPERIENCE

At the local level, Kimberly provided administrative services in the early 1990’s at Maricopa County prosecutor’s office. Later at the federal level, Kimberly worked for the United States Department of Justice in the Fraud Section, Criminal Division in Washington, D.C. providing assistance in policy research and paralegal services.

 

AWARDS

In her first year in office, Kimberly was the recipient of the following 2011 awards: Representative of the Year Award by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, the Leaders of the Year in Public Policy Award by the Arizona Capitol Times, the 2011 Freedom of Information Award by the Arizona Newspapers Association, and the 2011 Tech Ten Legislator Award for her work on technology by the Arizona Technology Council.      

 

PERSONAL

Kimberly and her husband own a small local business in the West Valley. Kimberly enjoys spending time with family and friends, and volunteers in her church and community. You may view some of her decorating and design segments on FOX 10 Arizona's Morning Show at www.myfoxphoenix.com.