Who is Teri Newman?

Teri is a woman of the people and takes pride in her ability to communicate with everyone and is able to relate to the needs of everyone she meets.  A multi-faceted businesswoman Teri has a serious work ethic and credits her successes in life to hard work and she maintains an “I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty" attitude toward getting the job done. Teri is an ILLINI, not by birth but by desire although her entire family on her mother's side is from Alton.  “I wasn’t born here, but I got here as soon as I could,” Teri says.  It is her desire to represent the good people of the District 12 in US Congress with integrity, fiscal responsibility and accountability to the voters whom she insists are her "bosses" and Teri firmly maintains that she answers to the citizens of the 12th district and no one else.

Teri moved to her mother’s native state in 2007 to find it ravaged by a Congressional Representative who has done some good for the district, but a LOT more for his family, cronies and donors and it was enraging to her that he took nearly 3 million dollars in donations in 2000 and 2006 when he didn't even have an opponent!  She is determined to put a stop to this shameful mishandling of public trust and to do so, she entered the race for Congress.

An outgoing and vivacious woman blessed with a near photographic memory, Teri has had success at many undertakings.  Three generations of Teri’s maternal family were born in Alton, located in the north end of the Illinois Congressional District 12 and were hard-working German farmers until the federal government took their family farm using eminent domain in order to build the Chain of Rocks canal. Teri graduated from a Florida High School at 15 and finished with college in less than 4 years by attending year round with a major in English.  She also worked the midnight shift at the local Waffle House while attending school. Hard work has always been her calling card and nothing has changed even though she is now 51 years old.  "No one ever drowned in their own sweat" is one of her favorite sayings and she's not afraid to get her hands dirty.

Teri’s work experience ranges from waitress to being the owner of an nationally recognized award-winning limousine business. Teri relates to people from all walks of life as her business enterprises have all been in service industries. She has operated Planning and Events, Health Care, Transportation, Restaurants and Recreation. She currently owns and operates Exquisite Events which is an event planning service with an emphasis on weddings.

Three years ago, she married John Newman, a Department of Defense transportation engineer who was BRAC-ked to Scott AFB.  She understands the vital importance of SAFB to the region, and the vital need to fix the system so that businesses find the Congressional District 12 attractive and are not repelled by out-of-control taxation and special interest payments along with the “pay to play” political corruption that is rampant in Illinois.

Teri has traveled extensively throughout the world and lived overseas for 2 years in Tokyo.  While living in Japan, she visited much of Asia including China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Okinawa during that time.  She has also visited Europe, Mexico and almost every state in our great nation.  From these experiences, Teri works from a unique view of domestic and foreign governing procedures as they affect jobs and businesses in Illinois. These experiences combined with her business experience enable her to represent the District with an eagle’s eye view of the economic environment and how to help Illinois begin to prosper again in the global environment of the twenty-first century.

Teri resides in Highland, IL with her husband and "very spoiled cats".  She enjoys her rose garden and loves the "cage-less zoo" of deer, wild turkeys, squirrels, raccoons, chipmunks, rabbits, possums and foxes meandering through her woodsy yard throughout the day. She also has a virtual aviary of wild birds that visit her yard to eat from the numerous feeders her husband maintains.