She married educator Joe McKeigue shortly after her graduation and the couple moved to Chicago, where she worked as a teacher in an economically challenged neighborhood.
Her sister, Kathleen Sullivan Alioto, had been the top vote getter in the previous two elections, but chose not to run for reelection.
[5] She and John D. O'Bryant were seen as the committee's liberal wing and opposed the removal of superintendent Robert Coldwell Wood.
[6][7] After Wood was ousted, McKeigue led the search committee that chose his successor, Robert R. Spillane and was his lead supporter for reappointment.
[10] After leaving the school committee, McKeigue was a regional representative and corporate relations specialist for the National Alliance of Business.