Category: U.S. Cabinet Member

Madeleine Albright
Madeleine K Albright


Madeleine Korbel Albright served as U.S. secretary of state from January 23, 1997, to January 20, 2001, the first women to hold that position. Albright was born May 15, 1937, in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Her father, Josef, was a member of the Czechoslovak Foreign Service and served as press attaché in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and later became ambassador to Yugoslavia. The family immigrated to Denver, Colorado, after the communist coup in 1948, with Albright becoming a U.S. citizen in 1957. She received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Wellesley College […]
Charlene Barshefsky
Charlene Barshefsky


Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky served as the U.S. trade representative—the chief trade negotiator and principal trade policymaker for the United States—from 1997 to 2001, and acting and deputy USTR from 1993 to 1996. Barshefsky was born on August 11, 1950. She received her Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Wisconsin in 1972 and her law degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in 1975. Prior to serving as the U.S. trade representative, Barshefsky was the deputy U.S. trade representative from 1993 to 1997. Before […]
Elaine Chao
Elaine L Chao


Elaine L. Chao served as the U. S. secretary of transportation for the Trump administration from 2017-2021. She also served as U.S. secretary of labor from 2001-2009, the first Asian American woman appointed to a U.S. cabinet position. Her husband is Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Born March 26, 1953, in Taiwan, Chao immigrated to the United States at the age of eight. She earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Mount Holyoke College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Before entering politics, Chao was vice president of syndications […]
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton


Hillary Rodham Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president of the United States, the first women to be nominated for U.S. president on a major party ticket. She served as United States secretary of state from January 2009 to February 2013, United States senator from New York from 2001 to 2009, first lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001, and first lady of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992. She is the only U.S. first lady to hold elective office and to serve in […]
Elizabeth "Betsy" DeVos
Elizabeth "Betsy" DeVos


Elizabeth "Betsy" DeVos served as the U. S. secretary of education for the Trump administration from 2017-2021. She was confirmed by the Senate by a 51–50 margin, the first time in U.S. history that a Cabinet nominee's confirmation was decided by a vice president's tie-breaking vote DeVos was born January 8, 1958, in Holland, Michigan. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in business economics from Calvin College in 1979. Prior to her confirmation as secretary of education, DeVos served as chairman of The Windquest Group, an enterprise and investment […]
Marcia Fudge
Marcia L Fudge


Marcia L. Fudge served as U.S. secretary of housing and urban development from March 10, 2021-March 22, 2024. Previously, she represented Ohio's 11th District in the United States House of Representatives from 2008-2021. Fudge was born October 29, 1952. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in business administration at The Ohio State University in 1975, and in 1983, she received her law degree from Cleveland State University. From 2000-2008, Fudge served as the mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, becoming the city's first female and first African American elected as […]
Jennifer Granholm
Jennifer M Granholm


Jennifer Granholm was confirmed as U.S. secretary of energy on Feb. 25, 2021. Granholm was the first female governor of Michigan, serving from 2003-2011. She was also Michigan's first female attorney general, serving from 1999-2003. Granholm was born February 5, 1959, in Canada. Her family moved to California when she was four years old; she became a U.S. citizen in 1980. She graduated with honors from the University of California-Berkeley in 1984 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science and French. She then graduated with honors from Harvard […]
Debra Haaland
Debra Haaland


Debra Haaland was confirmed as U.S. secretary of the interior on March 15, 2021. Haaland is a member of the Laguna Pueblo people and is the first Native American Cabinet member in U.S. history. Previously, Haaland served as U.S. representative for New Mexico's 1st Congressional District from 2019-2021. Haaland and Sharice Davids were the first Native American women elected to the U.S. Congress. Haaland was born on December 2, 1960, in Winslow, Arizona. She received a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of New Mexico in 1994 and […]
Nikki Haley
Nikki Haley


Nimrata "Nikki" Randhawa Haley served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from January 2017 to December 2018. Previously, Haley served as governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, the first non-European American and first female governor of South Carolina and the second Indian American governor to be elected in the United States. Haley was a Republican presidential candidate in the 2024 election, the first woman of color to be a major GOP presidential candidate and the first woman to win a state GOP presidential primary (D.C. and […]
Lisa Jackson
Lisa P Jackson


Lisa Perez Jackson served as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from January 2009 to February 2013, the first African American to serve in that position. Jackson was born February 8, 1962, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. She earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Tulane University in 1983 and a master's degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University in 1986. Jackson started with the EPA in 1987, spending 15 years working on Superfund remediation projects and developing hazardous waste clean-up regulations before […]