Gwen Walz

Gwen Walz
Walz in 2019
39th First Lady of Minnesota
Assumed role January 7, 2019
Governor	Tim Walz
Preceded by	Mary Pawlenty (2011)
Personal details
Born	Gwen Whipple (1966-06-15) June 15, 1966 (age 58) Glencoe, Minnesota, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Tim Walz ​ (m. 1994)​
Children	2
Education	Gustavus Adolphus College (BA) Minnesota State University, Mankato (MA)

Gwen Walz (née Whipple; born June 15, 1966) is an American educator and public school administrator. She is the 39th and current First Lady of Minnesota as the wife of Governor Tim Walz. Her husband was the Democratic Party candidate for vice president in the 2024 United States presidential election.

Prior to her husband's election as Governor of Minnesota, Walz worked for over two decades in the public school system as an English teacher. Her first teaching job was in Alliance, Nebraska, where she met her future husband and fellow educator, Tim Walz. In 1996, she and Walz moved to her native Minnesota where they both taught in the Mankato public schools. Retiring and moving to Saint Paul when her husband became governor in 2019, she is the only first lady in Minnesota's history to have an office in the Minnesota State Capitol. Walz oversees a policy portfolio focusing on education, corrections, and gun control legislation.