Heidi Cruz: American investment manager at Goldman Sachs

She is the spouse of Republican Texas senator and 2016 U.S. presidential candidate Ted Cruz.

Heidi Suzanne Cruz was born on August 7, 1972 in San Luis Obispo, California, and grew up in a Seventh-day Adventist family. Cruz's interest in politics began when she traveled to Washington, D.C. with her parents when she was 8.

She graduated with a B.A. in Economics and International Relations from Claremont McKenna College in 1994. She was active in Claremont McKenna's Republican group, but was asked to resign after spying on Bill Clinton's campaign for reelection. In 1995, she received a Masters of European Business from Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management in Brussels, Belgium and in 2000, she graduated with a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Heidi married Ted Cruz on May 27, 2001. Heidi met Ted Cruz while the two were working together on George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign. In April 2008, Cruz gave birth to her first child, Caroline Camille Cruz. Her second daughter, Catherine Christiane Cruz, was born in 2011.

In 2003, she worked for the Bush administration on economic policy, eventually becoming the director for the Western Hemisphere on the National Security Council under National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice in 2003. She left Washington DC in 2004 to support Ted Cruz's run for elective office in Texas.

Cruz has worked for three investment banks, JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, and Goldman Sachs.

In 2005, she joined Goldman Sachs, serving as a private wealth manager and is currently the Region Head for the Southwest Region in the Investment Management Division of Goldman Sachs in Houston.

2016 presidential election

Ted Cruz said that the decision for him to run for president was difficult for his wife, because she was busy with her business career and raising their 2 children. She changed her mind after listening to a CD from her sister-in-law.

Cruz was involved in her husband's run for president. She made a few public appearances without him to help with the campaign. She also ran a lunch for Republican women in Reno, Nevada a few days before the Nevada primary.