Betty Jane Diener, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetBetty Jane Diener
American politician (1940-2015)
Date of Birth: 15-Sep-1940
Place of Birth: Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, United States
Date of Death: 23-Jan-2015
Profession: politician
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Virgo 
About Betty Jane Diener
- Betty Jane Diener (September 15, 1940 – January 23, 2015) was an American academic administrator and politician.
- She served as the Virginia Secretary of Commerce from 1982 to 1986 during the administration of Governor Chuck Robb.Diener was born on September 15, 1940, in Washington D.C.
- and raised in nearby Arlington County, Virginia.
- She graduated from Washington-Lee High School in 1958.
- Diener received a bachelor's degree from Wellesley College in 1962 and a master's degree from Harvard Business School in 1964.
- She studied for the first year of her MBA in the Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business Administration.
- In 1974, she also earned her doctorate business administration from Harvard Business School.Diener served as an assistant dean and professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
- In 1979, Diener became the dean of the business school at Old Dominion University.Virginia Governor Chuck Robb appointed Betty Jane Diener as the state Secretary of Commerce in 1982.
- As head of Commerce, Diener oversaw 22 state agencies and 52 boards and commissions, encompassing an annual budget of $945 million with approximately 4,000 state employees.
- She was responsible for a diverse array of issues, including agriculture, the environment, industry, labor and tourism.
- Betty Jane Diener removed the term "plantation" from Virginia tourism brochures, arguing that recalled the state's history of slavery prior to the American Civil War.
- She also advocated for stronger environmental regulations and new coal mining safety guidelines.Following her tenure as Virginia Secretary of Commerce, Diener became both a provost and professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
- She then became a professor of management and analysis at the Andreas School of Business of Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida, from 2002 to 2012.Diener, a resident of Fort Lauderdale, died from pulmonary fibrosis at a health clinic in Weston, Florida, on January 23, 2015, at the age of 73.
- Her husband, Robert D.
- Bell, died in 1993.
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