People
Elaine Chao, Mitch McConnell Wife Bio, Age, Children, Net Worth
Anyone who met Elaine Chao in 1961, when she was only eight years old, would never believe that she would grow up to be one of the leading figures in American government. At that time, she had just moved to the United States from mainland China with her family and could not speak English.
Growing up, nobody paid her and her sisters any form of attention because they did not consider her worthy of attention. However, her parents taught her to think adventurously and to work towards something beyond her imagination. Elaine lived with this thought on a daily basis and eventually worked her way into various top positions in both governmental and non-governmental organizations in America. Today she is the US Secretary of Transportation and a member of the Republican Party.
Elaine Chao: Mitch McConnell Wife’s Bio & Age
Elaine Lan Chao was born on March 26, 1953 in Taipei, Taiwan. She is the first of Ruth Mulan Chu Chao and James SC Chao’s six daughters, Jeannette, May, Christine, Grace and Angela.
Her mother Ruth, who passed away in 2007, was a historian, while her father, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, is the founder of the company known as Foremost Group, a New York-based shipping, trading and financial company.
Elaine’s parents first met inShanghai when her mother moved there with her family during World War II. The duo eventually moved to Taiwan in 1949 when the Chinese Civil War was at its height. In 1950 they tied the knot and in 1958 James moved to New York on a scholarship. Three years later, Elaine, then 8 years old, emigrated to the United States on a cargo ship with her mother and two younger sisters.
Elaine Chao continued her studies at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, graduating in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. During her junior year at Mount Holyoke, Elaine studied money and banking at Dartmouth College and received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1979. So far, the intelligent woman has 37 honorary doctorates behind her.
career
Prior to public service, Elaine Chaowar was Vice President of Syndications at Bank of America Capital Markets Group in San Francisco, California. She also worked as an international banker at Citicorp in New York for four years.
In 1983, when former US President Ronald Reagan was still in power, Elaine became a White House Fellow. This allowed her to be appointed Assistant Secretary of Maritime Administration in the United States Department of Transportation in 1986. From 1988 to 1989 she was Chair of the Federal Maritime Commission.
During President George HW’s first year in office, Elaine Chao was appointed assistant secretary of transportation, a position she held from 1989 to 1991 before becoming director of the Peace Corps from 1991 to 1992. Thus, Elaine Chao became the first Asian-Pacific American to ever serve in any of the above roles.
As a result of her service under the administration of President George HW Bush, Elaine got the opportunity to serve as President and CEO of the United Way of America. From 1996 until her appointment as Secretary of Labor in 2001, she was a Distinguished Fellow at The History Foundation in Washington DC. She also served on the board of directors of the Independent Women’s Forum.
After her appointment as U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao served until 2009 and was the only cabinet member in the George W. Bush administration to serve during his eight-year tenure, as well as the longest-serving Secretary of Labor.
After the end of Bush’s administration, ElaineChao returned to the History Foundation and also served as a director on various corporate and charitable boards. In addition, she also contributed to a number of media outlets, including Fox News.
In June 2011, Elaine received the Woodrow Wilson Award for quality in the public sector. She was a distinguished fellow at the Hudson Institute until she took office as US Secretary of Transportation on January 31, 2017 under President Donald Trump.
Wealth (income and earnings)
After years on the board of directors, Elaine Chao, owned by her father and serving for years on various governing bodies of the American government, has amassed an impressive amount of wealth for herself.
The New York Times estimated in 2017 that her net worth ranged from $11.5 million to $48 million, and a January 2019 Business Insider report named her among the richest members of the Cabinet with a net worth of $29.9 million by President Trump.
Elaine Chao’s Husband & Children
Elaine married current Senate Majority Chairman Mitch McConnell on February 6, 1993, but to date she has no children with her, and she has no children at all. However, her husband has three children from his previous marriage.
During an interview with CNN, ElaineChao revealed that she sometimes regrets not having children. She further advised young women that in life there should be a balance between two desirable but irreconcilable desires.
