Heidi Cruz (born August 7, 1972, in California) is a prominent American businesswoman who has served as a managing director at Goldman Sachs since 2012. Raised as a Seventh-day Adventist and partly living as a missionary child in Africa and Asia, she earned degrees from Claremont McKenna, Solvay Brussels, and Harvard Business School. Her career began in politics as an economic adviser to George W. Bush's 2000 campaign, followed by key roles in the Bush administration, including the Treasury Department and the National Security Council under Condoleezza Rice, where she focused on Latin America and taught herself Spanish. In 2005, she joined Goldman Sachs, eventually became the regional head for the Southwest U.S., and in 2019, she was a finalist to lead the World Bank. Married to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz in 2001, she took a leave of absence from her firm during his 2016 presidential run to serve as his primary fundraiser and public surrogate.