Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership
United States of America - Members of Cabinet  (Female suffrage 1922)   

For the rest of the members of the US administrations see 
United States of America Ministers

1952-53  Administrator of the Federal Agency of Welfare Oveta Culp Hobby
1953-55 Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare
Journalist, Editor, Publisher and 1942 Colonel in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. She lived (1905-95).

1973-75 Advisor of the President Anne Legendre Armstrong
Co-Chairperson of the National Republican Committee 1971-73, Ambassador to the United Kingdom 1975-77. In question as vice-Presidential running-mate for President Ford in 1976. She lived (1927-2008).

1975-77 Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Carla Anderson Hills
1989-93 Trade Representative 
Assistant Attorney General 1974-75. (b. 1934-).

1977-79 Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Patricia Roberts Harris
1979    Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare
1979-81 Secretary of Health and Human Resources
In 1965-67 Ambassador to Luxembourg. First black first black ambassador. She lived (1924-85) 

1977-79 Secretary of Commerce Juanita Morris Kreps
An academic. She lived (1921-2010)

1979-81 Secretary of Education Shirley Mount Hufstedler
State and Federal Judge. She lived (1925-2016).

1981-85 U.N-Representative Jeanne Duane Jordan Kirkpatrick 
In question as vice-Presidential running-mate for Georges Bush 1988. She lived (1926-2006)

1983-87 Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Hanford Dole
1989-90 Secretary of Labor
Assistant to the President for Public Liaison 1981-83, President of Red Cross of USA 1990-99. Married to former Senator Bob Dole, who was the Republican Presidential Candidate in 1996. In 1999 she was a candidate for the republican nomination for Presidential candidate but withdrew from the race.Senator for New Carolina 2003-2009 and two years later she became Chairperson of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. (b. 1936-).

1983-85 Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Margaret M. O'Shaughnessy Heckler
Former Congress Member, Ambassador to Ireland 1984-89 (b. 1931-).

1987-89 Secretary of Labor Ann Dore McLaughlin
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury 1981-84 and Undersecretary of the Interior 1984-87. (b. 1941-).

1991-93 Secretary of Commerce Barbara Hackman Barnes Franklin 
Academic and business leader (b. 1940-).

1991-93 Secretary of Labor Lynn Morley Martin
Former Member of the House of Representatives and Vice-Chairperson of the House Republican Conference, ran for U.S. Senate in Illinois in 1990 and Candidate for the Presidency of the National Republican Committee 1993. (b. 1939-).

1993-2001 Attorney General Janet Reno
For many years District Attorney in Florida. In 2002 she lost the bid for the nomination as  Democrat Candidate for Governor. She lived (1937-2016).

1993-2001 Secretary of Health and Human Resources Donna Shalala
Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 1977-79. (b. 1941-)

1993-97 Secretary of Energy Hazel Reid Rollins O'Leary
Assistant Attorney General of New Jersey Circa 1970-74, Assistant Administrator of the Federal Environment Agency 1977-78 and Appointee for the Department of Energy in the Ford and Carter administrations. (b. 1937-)      

1993-97 U.N. Representative Madeleine Korbel Albright
1997-2001 Secretary of State (Foreign Minister)
Fourth in the Hierarchy of the Republic, after the President, Vice-President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, but since she is not born in the US, she would not have been able to succeed to the office of President. (b. 1937-) 

1993-95 C Chairperson of the Council of Economic Advisors Laura d'Andrea Tyson 
1995-97 Assistant to the President for National Economic Policy
Academic. (b. 1947-).

1993-2001 Administrator of the Environment Protection Agency Carol M. Browner
Head of the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation 1991-93. (b. 1955-).

1994-96 Director of Budget and Management Alice Mitchell Rivlin
Assistant Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare 1963-69 , Director of Congressional Budget Office 1975-83, Deputy Director of Budget of The White House , 1993-94 and also Vice-Chairperson of the Federal Revenue Board, The National Bank. (b. 1931-) 

1996-97 Acting Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky
1997-2001 Trade Representative 
Deputy US-Trade Representative 1993-96. (b. 1950-).

1997-2001 Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman
Director of the Women’s Bureau in the Department of Labor Between 1977-81, Deputy Chairperson of the National Democratic Committee 1991-92 and Assistant to the President, Director of Public Liaison 1993-97. (b. 1947-)  

1997-2001 Director of the Office of Personnel Management Janice R. Lachance
(b. 1953-)

2001-06 Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton
Attorney General of Colorado 1991-99. (b. 1954-).

2001-05 Secretary of Agriculture Anne M. Veneman
She was Deputy Undersecretary of Agriculture 1989-91, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture 1991-93 and Secretary of  Agriculture of California 1996-98. (b. 1950-)

2001-09 Secretary of Labor Elaine Lan Chao
2017- Secretary of Transportation
Deputy Secretary of Transportation 1989-92, Former Peace Corps and former President and leader of the United Way charitable organization. She is married to the Republican Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky. The first Asian-American woman in the Cabinet. (b. 1953-)

2001-03 Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Christine Todd Whitman
Governor of New Jersey 1998-2001. She was reelected to the post in November 2000 but resigned in order to become member of the Federal Cabinet. (b. 1947-).

2001-05 National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice
2003-04 Director of the Iraq Stabilization Group at the White House
2005-09 Secretary of State
She was Director of Soviet and East European Affairs in the National Security Council 1989-93. As Director of the Iraq Group she coordinated and oversaw the stateside element of the rebuilding projects while the direction of U.S. efforts on the ground in Iraq remained under the authority of Paul Bremer as the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority. (b. 1954-).

2003 Acting Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Marianne Lamont Horniko
Assistant Administrator of Agency 2001-03. (b. 1961-)

2005-09 Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
Advisor of the Governor of Texas 1995-2001 and appointed Presidential Domestic Policy Advisor in 2001, both times for Georges Bush jr. (b. 1948-).

2006-09 Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab
Assistant Secretary of Commerce 1989-93, Ambassador and Deputy Trade Representative 2003-06. (b. 1955-).

2006 Acting Secretary of Transportation Maria Cino
Deputy Chairperson of the Republican National Committee until 2005, Assistant Secretary 2001-05 and appointed Deputy Secretary of Transportation in 2005. (b. 1947-).

2006-09 Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters
Worked in the Office of the Arizona Department of Transportation for 16 years before she became its Director in 1999. Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration 2001-05.

2009-13 Secretary of State Hilary Clinton
Politically Influential when her husband, Bill Clinton, was governor of Arkansas 1979-81 and 1983-1992 and President of USA 1993-2001, Senator for New York 2001-07, candidate in the Democratic Party Primary 2007-08 and Presidential Candidate in 2016. (b. 1947-).

2009-13 Ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Susan E. Rice
Special Assistant to the President, Senior Director of African Affairs 1993-97, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs 1997-2001, and university lecturer. In 2012 she was considered the most likely candidate for Secretary of State until she withdrew her name for consideration. Appointed Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and National Security Advisor in 2013. (b. 1964-)

2009-13 Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
State Attorney-General 1998-2002 and Governor of Arizona from 2003. Designated to become Secretary of Homeland Security in 2009. (b. 1957-).

2008-13 Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis
Member of the California State Assembly 1992-96, State Senator 1996-2001 and elected to the US House of Representatives in 2001. (b. 1957-)

2009-14 Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sibelius
Governor of Kansas 2003-09. (b. 1948-).

2008-13 Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lisa Jackson
Former Head of the Environmental Agency of New Jersey. (b. 1952-).

2011 and 2012-13 Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca M. Blank
Appointed Under Secretary of Commerce in 2009. (b. 1955-)

2013-17 Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell
A business executive. (b. 1956-).

2013-14 Director of the Office of Budget and Management Sylvia Mathews Burwell
2014-17 Secretary of Health and Human Services
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy 1997-98, Deputy Director of the Office 1998-2001 and later business executive. (b. 1965-).

2013-17 Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker
Billionaire businesswoman, entrepreneur and civic leader (b. 1959-).

2013-17 Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Gina McCarthy
Assistant Administrator of EPA 2009-13. (b. 1954-)

2013-17 Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power
Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs 2009-13. (b. 1970-)

2014 and 2017 Acting Administrator of the Small Business Administration Marianne Markowitz
Regional Administrator of the SBA.

2014-17 Administrator of the Small Business Administration Maria Contreras-Sweet
California Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing Agency 1999-2003. b. 1955-)

2015-17 Attorney General Loretta Lynch
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York 1999-2001 and 2010-15 and partner in a law firm. (b. 1959-)

2017 Acting Attorney General Sally Yates
Deputy Attorney General 2015-17. Fired by the president for stating that one of his decrees was unconstitutional.

2017 Acting Secretary of Energy Grace Bochenek
She was director of the National Energy Technology Lab

2017 Acting Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Catherine McCabe
Former Deputy Administrator in New York City

2017 Acting Trade Representative Maria Pagan

2017 Acting Ambassador to the UN Michele J. Sison
Deputy UN Ambassador.

2017- UN Ambassador Nikki Haley
Governor of South Carolina 2011-17. (b. 1972-).

2017- Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos
A billionaire advocate of government funded privately operated and owned schools and religious schools (b. 1948-)

2017- Designate Administrator of the Small Business Administration Linda McMahon
Millionaire owner of World Wrestling Entertainment. (b. 1948-)

Last update 27.02.17