Rodney E. Slater

Rodney Earl Slater
13th United States Secretary of Transportation
In office February 14, 1997 – January 20, 2001
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Federico Peña
Succeeded by	Norman Mineta
Personal details
Born	(1955-02-23) February 23, 1955 (age 61) Marianna, Arkansas
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Eastern Michigan University University of Arkansas

Rodney Earl Slater (born February 23, 1955) was the United States Secretary of Transportation under U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Slater graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 1977, and received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1980.

Slater became a research assistant to the State Judiciary Committee of the Arkansas Constitutional Convention in 1979–80, an assistant attorney general for the state of Arkansas in 1980. He was appointed to several state government positions in Arkansas by Bill Clinton. Positions included assistant to the governor between 1983 and 1987, and member of the Arkansas State Highway Commission between 1987 and 1993. Slater was also the director of governmental affairs for Arkansas State University during that time.

After Clinton was elected president, 1993 Slater became the first African-American Director of the Federal Highway Administration.

In 1997, Slater was appointed to be the Secretary of Transportation. He was the second African American to hold that post.

Slater was able to muster bipartisan support in congress for his projects including:

Slater is part of a group of investors headed by Stan Kasten that successfully purchased the Major League Baseball team, the Washington Nationals.

Slater is an attorney at the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Patton Boggs LLP, where he is head of the transportation practice and works on projects related to the transportation infrastructure. He is also a partner in James Lee Witt Associates, a risk management firm headed by former Federal Emergency Management Agency director James Lee Witt.

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