State Treasurer Nancy Kopp celebrates her 40th year in State government this year, serving 27 years as a member of the House of Delegates and 13 years as State Treasurer. In honor of this accomplishment, Bethesda Magazine highlights her career in public service.

From the article,

When Nancy Kopp received an unexpected achievement award from her alma mater, Wellesley College in Massachusetts, on the 50th anniversary of her graduation earlier this year, it led to some retrospection.

“It made me think back on what I had done, most of which was not intended or at all planned,” she says. In February, the same month she was honored by Wellesley, she was re-elected by the Maryland General Assembly to a fourth full term as state treasurer. Her initial selection to that post in 2002 followed 27 years of representing the Bethesda area in the state House of Delegates.

For Kopp, 2015 marks 40 years of public service. Now 71, she will become the second-longest-serving treasurer in state history when her term ends in 2019—and she says she hasn’t ruled out seeking a fifth term.

When first elected in 1974, she was one of very few women serving in the House of Delegates. She is only the second woman to serve as the Treasurer of Maryland.

As treasurer, Kopp oversees the investment of state funds and the reconciliation of the state’s books with its bank accounts. She’s most visible as a member of the Board of Public Works, where she, the governor and the state comptroller vote on capital construction projects and major state procurement contracts.