Kathy Sullivan served as chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party from 1999 through 2007. She is the managing partner of New Hampshire's oldest law firm, Wadleigh, Starr & Peters, P.L.L.C.; a 1981 graduate of Cornell Law School; and, a 1977 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross. She is a lifelong resident of Manchester, New Hampshire, where her parents raised her to be both a loyal Democrat and an avid Red Sox fan, which has turned out to be not such a bad thing after all. Her husband, John Rist, is the principal of Manchester Central High School, New Hampshire's oldest public high school, and her stepson, Rob, works and lives in Boston.