View Shopping Cart Your Famous Chinese Account Shopping Help Famous Chinese Homepage China Chinese Chinese Culture Chinese Restaurant & Chinese Food Travel to China Chinese Economy & Chinese Trade Chinese Medicine & Chinese Herb Chinese Art
logo
Search
March 8, 2014
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
Elaine Chao

Wikipedia

 
Image:Chao.jpg|framed|Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao
Elaine Lan Chao (Chinese language|Chinese: 趙小蘭, pinyin: Zh?o Xiǎol?n, Wade-Giles Chao Hsiao-lan; b. March 26, 1953) currently serves as the 24th United States|U.S. United States Secretary of Labor|Secretary of Labor. She is the first Asian American woman and first Chinese American to be appointed to the federal cabinet.



Born in Taipei, Republic of China|Taiwan to James S. C. Chao (趙錫成 Zh?o Xīch?ng), a Shanghainese businessman, and Ruth Mu-lan Chu (朱木蘭 Zhū M?l?n), a historian, Elaine Chao immigration|immigrated to the United States at the age of eight. She attended Syosset High School in Long Island, New York.

Chao studied economics at Mount Holyoke College and received an MBA from Harvard Business School. She also studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT, Dartmouth College, and Columbia University. She is the recipient of 20 honorary doctoral degrees from colleges and universities across the country.



After a brief stint as a banker with Citigroup, she was selected as a White House Fellow in 1983, working in the Office of Policy Development. While a vice president with Bank of America's Capital Markets, Chao became involved in fundraising for United States Republican Party|Republican political candidates in California.

In 1986, Chao returned to Washington D.C. as Deputy Administrator of the US Maritime Administration in the US Department of Transportation. From 1988 to 1989, she was Chairwoman of the U.S. 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, the first Asian American to serve in that position. She expanded Peace Corps' presence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia by establishing the first Peace Corps programs in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and other newly independent countries.

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

Labor Secretary
As Labor Secretary, Chao authored and published proposed regulations that would raise the minimum salary for automatic overtime eligibility from $8,060 to $22,100, while exempting almost all white-collar workers earning more than $65,000. The changes would be the first since 1975. Anyone in the armed services would not qualify for overtime. On January 20, 2004, the overdue 2004 spending bill to which Chao's proposals were attached failed to obtain the 60-vote supermajority in the United States Senate needed to end debate and allow a second vote necessary for final passage.

Timeline
1983: White House Fellow, Office of Policy Development
1986: Deputy Administrator, U.S. Maritime Administration, US Department of Transportation
1988 - 1989: Chairwoman, U.S. Maritime Commission
1989: Deputy Secretary of Transportation
1991 - 1992: Director, Peace Corps
1993 - 1996: President, United Way of America
1996: Distinguished Fellow, Heritage Foundation
2001 - present: United States Secretary of Labor|Secretary of Labor



Elaine Chao is married to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Whip (politics)|Majority Whip of the United States Senate.

All the five children of the Chao family were girls, and four of which are named starting with "Hsiao" (Little):
  • Hsiao-lan (小蘭) (Elaine) - Lan means "orchid"

  • Hsiao-mei (小美)

  • Hsiao-pu (小甫)

  • Hsiao-t'ing (小婷)

  • An-chi (安吉)




  • nndb name|id=596/000061413|name=Elaine Chao


start box
succession box | before = Alexis Herman | title = United States Secretary of Labor | years = 2001—present | after = Incumbent
end box

Category:1953 births|Chao, Elaine
Category:Chinese American politicians|Chao, Elaine
Category:U.S. Secretaries of Labor|Chao, Elaine
Category:Peace Corps directors|Chao, Elaine
Category:Foreign-born US political figures|Chao, Elaine

ja:イレーン・チャオ
zh:趙小蘭

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Elaine Chao".


Last Modified:   2005-04-13


Search
All informatin on the site is © FamousChinese.com 2002-2005. Last revised: January 2, 2004
Are you interested in our site or/and want to use our information? please read how to contact us and our copyrights.
To post your business in our web site? please click here. To send any comments to us, please use the Feedback.
To let us provide you with high quality information, you can help us by making a more or less donation: