Juliana Stratton is the Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, having assumed office on January 14, 2019, with her current term ending on January 11, 2027. She earned a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1987 and a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law in 1992. Her career experience includes serving as the executive director of Cook County Justice for Children and the Cook County Justice Advisory Council. She was the founder and president of JDS Mediation Services, Inc. and taught conflict management and negotiation skills at Loyola University Chicago. Stratton, born and raised on Chicago's South Side, was a lawyer before winning a state House seat in 2016. Pritzker tapped her to join him on the Democratic ticket in 2018, and she has served as his lieutenant governor for the past eight years.
Stratton is a first-generation politician who worked as a lawyer and mediator before entering state politics. She is the first African-American woman to serve as Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. She has focused her career on social justice issues, having directed Cook County Justice for Children and founded a mediation services company. She is married with four daughters and lives in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago.