Diane Catherine Goss Farrell (born August 10, 1955) currently serves as the Acting Deputy Under Secretary for International Trade in Washington, D.C. In this role, she oversees the daily operations of the International Trade Administration (ITA), which has an annual budget of $483 million with approximately 2,100 trade and investment professionals—based in more than 100 U.S. cities and 70 markets around the world. Farrell is a former Democratic candidate for Connecticut's 4th congressional district in 2004 and 2006. She was appointed by President George W. Bush to become a member of the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate on August 1, 2007 for a term ending on January 20, 2011. Farrell is a former elementary school teacher who later worked in the advertising industry and first became engaged in school politics when her children entered the public schools in Westport, Connecticut. Prior to running for elective office, she attended the Women's Campaign School at Yale University. Personal life A native of New Rochelle, New York, she was three years old when her family moved to Westport in 1958. She graduated from Massachusetts' Wheaton College with a major in American Government and a minor in elementary education in 1977. In 1978, she married Karr Winslow Farrell Jr. They have two daughters, Hilary (born 1983) and Margaret (born 1986). Political career Diane Farrell served two terms as Westport's First Selectwoman, a position equivalent to that of Mayor. She was first elected in 1997 with 59% of the vote and was reelected, with 70% of the vote, in 2001. Farrell's campaign website says she was elected to office on both occasions with the support not only of her fellow Democrats, but also a significant group of independents and Republicans. A strong mayor form of government, she managed multi-million dollar budgets within the Consumer Price Index and maintained the town’s AAA bond rating at a time when significant infrastructure investment was taking place. She oversaw the construction of schools, a municipal waste water treatment plant, affordable housing, and other necessary facilities. In 2002, she was elected chair of Fairfield County's South Western Regional Metropolitan Planning Organization, which is responsible for managing development and sprawl. As a select member of the National League of Cities Transportation and Infrastructure Steering and Policy Committee, she helped set policy goals for transportation and infrastructure initiatives in