Jenny Wilson (politician)

Jenny Wilson (born November 1, 1965) is a member of the Salt Lake County Council and daughter of Ted Wilson, former mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, US. She was re-elected to her second term in an at-large seat on the Salt Lake County Council in 2014, having previously served from 2005 to 2011. After her election in 2004, she vowed to enact stronger ethics laws and bring about needed reform to Salt Lake County.
In September 2006, she announced her candidacy for the 2007 Salt Lake City mayoral election. She lost nomination in the September 2007 primary election.

She graduated from East High School in 1983, and received a degree in Mass Communication from the University of Utah in 1988. Throughout college, she worked for the Sundance Institute as an office assistant, where she helped with the first Sundance Film Festival. After 10 years in the workforce, she entered a mid-career program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and received her Masters in Public Administration in 1998.

After working as the press secretary for her father's campaign during the Utah governor's race in 1988, she worked for the National Association of Counties, the National Cable Television Association and on Capitol Hill for Congressman Les AuCoin of Oregon. She returned to the Sundance Institute from 1990-1992. She joined the U.S. Senate campaign of her former employer, Congressman AuCoin. Following that campaign, she returned to Washington, D.C., where she was hired by Congressman Bill Orton of Utah. She later became his chief of staff, and served in that capacity until he retired from the Congress in 1996.

She joined the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games of 2002 in 1999. She served as a director of volunteers, where her specific duties included retention, communication and special events.

Following the completion of her work for the Olympics, she joined the staff of "Cover the Uninsured Week", a national campaign to draw attention to the large number of Americans who go without health insurance. She was later hired by "Voices for Utah Children" to direct the "Covering Kids" campaign, dedicated to decreasing the number of Utah children who go without health coverage.

In 2010 she joined the Moran Eye Center as Executive Director of Institutional Advancement, where she served until March 2013, overseeing marketing, communications, government relations and development.

Wilson also produced and directed a documentary film titled The Grand Rescue, which was completed in 2014.