Elaine Chao: Everything You Need to Know About Trump's Pick for Secretary of Transportation
She has experience working in a presidential cabinet.
— -- Donald Trump has selected Elaine Chao, who was the labor secretary in George W. Bush’s administration, to serve as transportation secretary.
Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, holds the record of having the longest tenure as labor secretary since World War II, according to her website. She was the only member of Bush’s Cabinet to serve all eight years of his presidency. She made history as the first Asian-American woman to serve in a U.S. president’s Cabinet.
She is the third woman named by Trump for his Cabinet so far. The others are Betsy DeVos for education secretary and Nikki Haley for ambassador to the United Nations.
Here is everything you need to know about the newest selection for Trump’s Cabinet:
Name: Elaine Lan Chao
Party: Republican
Birthplace: Taipei, Taiwan
Age: 63 (born March 26, 1953)
Education: Chao earned a master's in business administration from Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree in economics from Mount Holyoke College.
What you might not know about her: She came to the United States at the age of 8. On her website, she writes of herself, “The experience transitioning to a new country has motivated her to dedicate most of her professional life to ensuring that all people have the opportunity to build better lives.”
What she used to do:
From 2001 to 2009, Chao served as secretary of labor under George W. Bush. Before that, she was the deputy secretary of transportation under George H.W. Bush.
After her time in the first Bush administration, in late 1991 she became the director of the Peace Corps, where she facilitated programs in the Baltic and in newly independent states of the former Soviet Union, according to her website. One year later she was appointed the CEO of United Way of America, replacing William Aramony, who resigned after becoming embroiled in a financial scandal.
