Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice (born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist. She is currently the director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Rice, a member of the Republican Party, served as the 66th United States secretary of state from 2005 to 2009, as well as the 19th U.S. national security advisor from 2001 to 2005. She was the first female African-American secretary of state and the first woman to serve as national security advisor. Rice and her predecessor, Colin Powell, were the highest-ranking African Americans in the history of the federal executive branch until the election of Barack Obama as president in 2008. Rice grew up in Birmingham, Alabama.