Elaine Chao

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Elaine L. Chao 趙小蘭
24th United States Secretary of Labor
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 29, 2001
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Alexis Herman
12th Director of the Peace Corps
In office 1991 – 1992
President	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	Paul Coverdell
Succeeded by	Carol Bellamy
Born	March 26, 1953 (1953-03-26) (age 55) Taipei, Taiwan
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Mitch McConnell

Elaine Lan Chao (traditional Chinese: 趙小蘭; pinyin: Zhào Xiǎolán; Wade-Giles: Chao Hsiao-lan;^[1] born March 26, 1953) currently serves as the 24th United States Secretary of Labor in the Cabinet of President George W. Bush. She is the first Chinese American^[2], and the first Asian-American woman to be appointed to a President's cabinet in American history. Chao is the President's only original cabinet member, making her the longest serving cabinet member during President Bush's administration.^[3]

Contents 1 Childhood and education 2 Career 2.1 George H.W. Bush Administration 2.2 United Way and Heritage Foundation 2.3 Achievements as Labor Secretary 2.4 Timeline 3 Family 4 Notes and references 5 External links

[edit] Childhood and education

Chao was born in Taipei, Taiwan, to James S. C. Chao (趙錫成 Zhào Xīchéng), a Shanghainese entrepreneur, and Ruth Mu-lan Chu (朱木蘭 Zhū Mùlán), a historian. Her parents had fled to Taiwan from mainland China after the Chinese Communists took over as a result of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. At the age of eight, Elaine Chao and her family immigrated to the United States, where her father had already settled a few years earlier. She attended Syosset High School on Long Island, New York.

Chao received her B.A. in Economics from Mount Holyoke College in 1975 and her MBA from the Harvard Business School. Chao is the second Mount Holyoke alumna to become Labor Secretary. Frances Perkins, a 1902 graduate of the College, was the first woman to hold a Cabinet post and served as President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945. Chao also studied at MIT, Dartmouth College, and Columbia University. She is the recipient of 29 honorary doctoral degrees from colleges and universities around the world.

[edit] Career

[edit] George H.W. Bush Administration

In 1986, Chao returned to Washington D.C. as Deputy Administrator of the Maritime Administration in the US Department of Transportation. From 1988 to 1989, she served as Chairwoman of the Federal Maritime Commission.

In 1989, President George H. W. Bush nominated Chao to be Deputy Secretary of Transportation, the number two position in the department. From 1991 to 1992, Chao was Director of the Peace Corps. She was the first Asian American to serve in all these positions. She expanded the Peace Corps's presence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia by establishing the first Peace Corps programs in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, and other newly independent states of the former Soviet Union.

[edit] United Way and Heritage Foundation

Following her service in the government, Chao worked for four years as President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of America. She is credited with returning credibility and public trust back to the organization after an embarrassing financial mismanagement scandal involving former United Way of America president Bill Aramony. From 1996 until her appointment as Secretary of Labor, Chao was a Distinguished Fellow with the Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank.

[edit] Achievements as Labor Secretary

During Secretary Chao's tenure, the Department has updated the white collar overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which has been on the agenda of every Administration since 1977. For the first time in history, overtime protection is now explicitly guaranteed for blue collar workers, police, firefighters, EMT's, factory workers, construction workers and hourly workers. The most significant regulatory tort reform of President Bush's first term, the new regulations provided millions of workers with strengthened overtime protection. In 2003, the Department achieved the first major update of union financial disclosure regulations in more than 40 years, giving rank and file members enhanced information on how their dues are spent. The Department has set new worker protection enforcement records, including recovering record back wages for vulnerable low wage immigrant workers. The Department has also launched comprehensive reform of the nation's publicly funded worker training programs. In 2006 and 2007, the Department successfully implemented the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (MINER Act). On August 17, 2006, President Bush signed the Pension Protection Act, which protects the 44 million workers whose retirement security rests upon private sector defined benefit pension plans.

After Donald Rumsfeld had stepped down from his position as Secretary of Defense in November 2006, she became the only original Cabinet member still serving in the Bush Administration in the same position to which she was appointed.

[edit] Timeline

• 1983: White House Fellow, Office of Policy Development, the White House
• 1986: Deputy Administrator, Maritime Administration, US Department of Transportation
• 1988–89: Chairwoman, Federal Maritime Commission
• 1989: Deputy Secretary of Transportation
• 1991–92: Director, Peace Corps
• 1992–96: President and Chief Executive Officer, United Way of America
• 1996: Distinguished Fellow, Heritage Foundation
• 2001–Present: U.S. Secretary of Labor

[edit] Family

Elaine Chao is married to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican Leader of the United States Senate. She is the eldest of six daughters in her family.

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• Office of the Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
• U.S. Department of Labor Biography
• http://unionreports.gov

Preceded by Paul Coverdell	Director of the Peace Corps 1991–1992	Succeeded by Carol Bellamy
Preceded by Alexis Herman	United States Secretary of Labor Served Under: George W. Bush 2001 – present	Incumbent
Preceded by Carlos Gutierrez	United States order of precedence as of 2007	Succeeded by Michael Leavitt

v • d • e Directors of the Peace Corps Shriver • Vaughn • Blatchford • O'Donnell • Hess • Craw • Dellenback • Payton • Celeste • Ruppe • Coverdell • Chao • Carol Bellamy • Gearan • Schneider • Vasquez • Tschetter

v • d • e United States Secretaries of Labor Secretaries of Commerce & Labor Cortelyou • Metcalf • Straus • Nagel Secretaries of Labor Wilson • Davis • Doak • Perkins • Schwellenbach • Tobin • Durkin • Mitchell • Goldberg • Wirtz • Shultz • Hodgson • Brennan • Dunlop • Usery • Marshall • Donovan • Brock • McLaughlin • Dole • Martin • Reich • Herman • Chao

v • d • e Current members of the United States Cabinet Bodman · Boltenc · Bushc · Chao · Cheneyc · Chertoff · Gates · Gutierrez · Johnsonc · Kempthorne · Leavitt · Mukasey · Paulson · Peake · Peters · Preston · Nusslec · Rice · Schafer · Schwabc · Spellings · Waltersc (c) cabinet-level only, (a) acting

v • d • e Cabinet of President George W. Bush (2001 – 2009) Secretary of State Colin Powell (2001 – 2005) • Condoleezza Rice (2005 – present) Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill (2001 – 2002) • John Snow (2002 – 2006) • Henry Paulson (2006 – present) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (2001 – 2006) • Robert Gates (2006 – present) Attorney General John Ashcroft (2001 – 2005) • Alberto Gonzales (2005 – 2007) • Michael Mukasey (2007 – present) Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton (2001 – 2006) • Dirk Kempthorne (2006 – present) Secretary of the Agriculture Ann Veneman (2001 – 2005) • Mike Johanns (2005 – 2007) • Ed Schafer (2008 – present) Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans (2001 – 2005) • Carlos Gutierrez (2005 – present) Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao (2001 – present) Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson (2001 – 2005) • Mike Leavitt (2005 – present) Secretary of Education Rod Paige (2001 – 2005) • Margaret Spellings (2005 – Present) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel Martinez (2001 – 2003) • Alphonso Jackson (2003 – 2008) • Steve Preston (2008 – present) Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta (2001 – 2006) • Mary Peters (2006 – present) Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham (2001 – 2005) • Samuel Bodman (2005 – present) Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi (2001 – 2005) • Jim Nicholson (2005 – 2007) • James Peake (2007 – present) Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge (2003 – 2005) • Michael Chertoff (2005 – present) Chief of Staff Andrew Card (2001 – 2006) • Joshua Bolten (2006 – present) Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Christine Todd Whitman (2001 – 2003) • Mike Leavitt (2003 – 2005) • Stephen Johnson (2005 – present) Trade Representative Robert Zoellick (2001 – 2005) • Rob Portman (2005 – 2006) • Susan Schwab (2006 - present)

Persondata
NAME	Chao, Elaine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Chao, Elaine Lao
SHORT DESCRIPTION	24th United States Secretary of Labor
DATE OF BIRTH	March 26, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH	Taipei, Taiwan
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH