The Honorable Penny Pritzker

Secretary of Commerce

Penny Pritzker has served as the 38th U.S. Secretary of Commerce since being sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden on June 26, 2013. As Secretary of Commerce, she is focused on providing American businesses and entrepreneurs with the tools they need to grow and hire.

Secretary Pritzker is a key member of President Obama's economic team, with 27 years of private sector experience. Before joining the Obama Administration, Pritzker founded and ran five different businesses in the real estate, hospitality, senior living, and financial services industries.

Since taking office, she has worked closely with the business community and helped advance the President's priorities of expanding growth and opportunity for all Americans. Guided by conversations with more than 1,500 CEOs and business leaders, and over one-third of the Fortune 500 CEOs, Secretary Pritzker has developed the "Open for Business Agenda." This bold strategic plan and policy blueprint for the Commerce Department focuses on expanding trade and investment, unleashing government data for economic benefit, spurring innovation, protecting the environment—and executing these priorities with operational excellence as careful stewards of taxpayer dollars.

While this is Secretary Pritzker's first government position, public service has been her lifelong passion. In 2012, she received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service, an honor given to individuals who have served with distinction in public life and have shown a special commitment to seeking out informed opinions and thoughtful views.

Secretary Pritzker earned her bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard University and J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Stanford University.

The Honorable John F. Kerry

Secretary of State

Secretary of State John Kerry joined the State Department after 28 years in the U.S. Senate, the last four as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As Chairman, he led on key foreign policy issues including Afghanistan and Pakistan, nuclear nonproliferation, climate change and ratification of the New START Treaty. Secretary Kerry also held positions on the Senate Finance, Commerce, and Small Business committees and the bipartisan Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction.

A decorated veteran, Secretary Kerry served two tours of duty with the U.S. Navy. After working as a prosecutor, he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in 2004.

Secretary Kerry holds degrees from Yale University and Boston College. He and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, are proud of a blended family of five children and three grandchildren.

The Honorable Jacob J. Lew

Secretary of the Treasury

Jacob J. Lew was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 27, 2013, to serve as the 76th Secretary of the Treasury. Secretary Lew previously served as Chief of Staff to President Obama. Prior to that role, Lew was the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a position he also held in President Clinton's Cabinet from 1998 to 2001 while also serving as a member of the National Security Council. During his tenure at OMB, the U.S. budget operated at a surplus for three consecutive years. As Special Assistant to President Clinton from 1993 to 1994, Lew helped design Americorps, the national service program. Before returning to OMB in 2010, Lew first joined the Obama Administration as Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources.

The Honorable Tom Vilsack

Secretary of Agriculture

Tom Vilsack serves as the Nation's 30th Secretary of Agriculture. As leader of the Department of Agriculture (USDA), Vilsack is working to strengthen the agricultural economy, create new markets at home and abroad for rural-made products, and grow the businesses that support good-paying jobs in rural communities. As chair of the first-ever White House Rural Council, Secretary Vilsack and USDA are finding new ways to leverage private sector dollars to invest in the people and businesses who are making, creating and innovating in rural America. Prior to his appointment, Vilsack served two terms as the Governor of Iowa, where he focused on rebuilding local economies and creating opportunity in rural communities and small towns by enhancing family farm profitability, advancing local food systems, expanding exports, and combating hunger and malnutrition.

The Honorable Thomas E. Perez

Secretary of Labor

Tom Perez is the nation's 26th Secretary of Labor. Under his leadership, the Department of Labor's priorities include ensuring a fair day's pay for a fair day's work; connecting ready-to-work Americans with ready-to-be-filled jobs; promoting gender equality in the workplace; ensuring that people with disabilities and veterans have access to equal employment opportunity; and insisting on a safe and level playing field for all workers.

Previously, Perez was Assistant Attorney General for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, leading the same division where he worked for a decade as a federal prosecutor. He has also been a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law, a member of the Montgomery County Council and Secretary of Maryland's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

Perez received a bachelor's degree from Brown University, and both a master's of public policy and a law degree from Harvard University. He lives in Maryland with his wife and three children.

The Honorable Anthony Foxx

Secretary of Transportation

As U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx
leads an agency with more than 55,000 employees and a $70 billion budget that oversees air, maritime, and surface transportation. His primary goal is to ensure that America maintains the safest, most efficient transportation system in the world. Foxx joined the U.S. Department of Transportation after serving as the mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, from 2009 to 2013. During that time, he made efficient and innovative transportation investments the centerpiece of Charlotte's job creation and economic recovery efforts. Foxx is an attorney and has spent much of his career in private practice. He received a law degree from New York University's School of Law as a Root-Tilden Scholar, the University's prestigious public service scholarship. He earned a bachelor's degree in History from Davidson College.

The Honorable Michael Froman

United States Trade Representative

United States Trade Representative Michael Froman is President Obama's principal advisor, negotiator and spokesperson on international trade and investment issues. Ambassador Froman leads the Office of the United States Trade Representative in its work to open global markets for U.S. goods and services, enforce America's rights in the global trading system, and foster development through trade. Key initiatives ongoing under his leadership are negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in the Asia Pacific; the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union; negotiation of agreements on services, information technology and trade facilitation at the World Trade Organization; and monitoring and enforcing U.S. trade rights, including through the Interagency Trade and Enforcement Center (ITEC).