Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice (born November 14, 1954) is the 66th United States Secretary of State, and the second in the administration of President George W. Bush to hold the office. Rice is the first black woman, second black person (after Colin Powell, who served before her from 2001 to 2005), and second woman (after Madeleine Albright who served from 1997 to 2001) to serve as Secretary of State. Rice was President Bush's National Security Advisor during his first term, but before joining the Bush administration, she was a Professor of political science at Stanford University where she served as Provost from 1993 to 1999. During the administration of George H.W. Bush, Rice also served as the Soviet and East European Affairs Advisor during the dissolution of the Soviet Union and German reunification.

When beginning as Secretary of State, Rice pioneered a policy of Transformational Diplomacy, with a focus on democracy in the greater Middle East. Her emphasis on supporting democratically elected governments faced challenges as Hamas captured a popular majority in Palestine yet supported Islamist terror, and influential countries including Saudi Arabia and Egypt maintained non-democratic systems with U.S. support. Her policies and strong diplomatic style gained her recognition as a powerful leader by mainstream media.[citation needed] She chairs the Millennium Challenge Corporation's board of directors.[1]

In addition to English, she speaks, with varying degrees of fluency, Russian, German, French, and Spanish.[2]