— Chet Culver
Meet Chet
Chet Culver began his career as an environmental and consumer advocate in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. After receiving his Master of Arts in Teaching at Drake University in 1994, he taught government and history at Roosevelt High School and Hoover High School in Des Moines, where he also coached both football and basketball. Once elected, Culver would be the only governor in the country who has worked in the classroom in the last twenty years.
As a teacher and a coach, Chet drew on his experiences playing both sports in high school and playing football on scholarship at Virginia Tech.
In 1998, Chet was elected as Iowa’s 29th Secretary of State and the youngest Secretary of State in the nation. He was re-elected to the position in 2002 and is currently finishing his second term. As Secretary of State, Chet has created the Iowa Student Political Awareness Club (ISPAC), a nonpartisan statewide student organization dedicated to increasing civic and community participation among Iowa’s young people.
Chet and his wife, Mari, live with their two young children, Clare Honour and John William, in West Des Moines. Chet is a member of the Central Presbyterian Church, where he serves as an Elder.
Chet is the youngest of four children of former Iowa Senator John Culver and Ann Cooper Culver. Senator Culver served Iowa in the United States House of Representatives from 1965 to 1974 and in the United States Senate from 1974 to 1980.
Mariclare Thinnes Culver
Chet's wife, Mari Thinnes Culver, is a life-long Iowan. She was born in Dubuque, and raised in Marion, Iowa. Mari is the fifth of six children of Joanne Thinnes and the late Judge William Thinnes, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Iowa from 1965-1985.
Mari is a partner in the Des Moines law firm of Duncan, Green, Brown, Langeness, P.C. She is a graduate of Regis High School in Cedar Rapids, where she was inducted into the school's hall of fame for her academic and student government achievements. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa in 1987, and her juris doctorate with distinction from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1990.
