Elected in November 2012, Senator Katrina Shealy was the only woman in the South Carolina Senate at that time and is now one of only five women in the South Carolina Senate. Senator Shealy serves as Chairman of the Family & Veterans’ Services Committee and sits on the Finance, Corrections & Penology, Rules, and Labor, Commerce & Industry Committees in the Senate. She is also a member and past chair of the Joint Citizens and Legislative Committee on Children, co-chair of the State Suicide Prevention Coalition, the State Child Fatality Advisory Committee, and the State Domestic Violence Advisory Committee. She is the past chair of the Southern Legislative Conference Human Services and Public Services Committee and past chair of the National Foundation for Women Legislators.
Senator Shealy is the founder of Katrina’s Kids, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, which strives to give “Every Chance to Every Child” in foster care and group homes. She has been a champion of children’s and women’s issues for many years, having formerly served as the Chairman of the Board of the South Carolina Friends of Juvenile Justice, the Women’s Advisory Board for Lexington Medical Center and as a board member for the Girl Scouts of the Congaree.
Senator Shealy is an insurance executive who has been in the insurance industry for the past 40 years. She works as an insurance consultant for Keenan & Suggs of Columbia, S.C. She is married to Jimmy Shealy and resides in Lexington, S.C. They have three daughters, five grandsons and eight donkeys. They are active members of St. James Lutheran Church in Red Bank.