Elaine Lan Chao served as the 24th United States Secretary of Labor in the Cabinet of President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009. She was the first Asian Pacific American woman and first Chinese American to be appointed to a President’s cabinet in American history. Chao was the only cabinet member to serve under George W. Bush for his entire administration.
She is married to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), the current U.S. Senate Minority Leader.
Chao continued to serve in many prominent roles after completing her tenure as Secretary of Labor. Aside from resuming her previous role as a Distinguished Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, she contributes to Fox News and various other media outlets. She also serves as a director on the boards of Wells Fargo, Dole Food Company, and Protective Life Corporation. She also started serving as an advisor to The @ Work State of Mind Project, a research and development project led by Gyro. She talked about her work on this project at the Forbes 2011 CMO Summit. In June 2011, she was awarded the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service. In September 2012, she was nominated to serve on the media board for the News Corporation.