Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater joined Patton Boggs in 2001 as a partner in its public policy practice group, and head of its transportation practice group in Washington, D.C. He was unanimously confirmed as the nation's 13th Secretary of Transportation in 1997 and served as secretary until the end of the Clinton Administration in January 2001.
Prior to becoming Secretary of Transportation, Rodney was head of the Federal Highway Administration, serving as the first African-American administrator in the agency's century-long history. His public service career began after he earned a law degree in 1980 from the University of Arkansas School of Law. He held several positions in Arkansas over the next dozen years, including director of government relations at Arkansas State University, executive assistant for Economic and Community Programs for then-Governor Bill Clinton, the governor's special assistant for community and minority affairs, assistant attorney general of the litigation division of the Arkansas State Attorney General's Office, and secretary-treasurer of the Arkansas Bar Association.
Secretary Slater joined United Way of America's Board of Trustees in 2003 and has given crucial leadership to the organization's hurricane recovery and response work. He chairs the task force overseeing the United Way National Hurricane Fund and ensures donations are addressing long-term community needs in the Gulf Coast Region.