Tammy Duckworth is an American politician and retired Army National Guard Lieutenant Colonel serving as the Junior United States Senator from Illinois since 2017. She was born in Thailand and is a natural-born citizen of the U.S. since her father was American. Her years of military service spanned from 1992 to 2014. She spoke at the Executives’ Club of Chicago for “Illinois’ US Congressional Panel: Legislative Agenda for Chicagoland Businesses”.