Alexis Margaret Herman (born July 16, 1947) formerly served as the 23rd U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton; she was the first African-American to hold the position.

Following the defeat of Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election, Herman remained active in Democratic politics, in addition to her participation in the private sector, serving on the boards of corporations such as Coca-Cola and Toyota.

[2] Her parents opted to send Alexis to parochial school, in part because the teachers included white nuns and priests, and thus would expose her to greater diversity.

[6][7] She transferred to Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, where she became an active member of the Gamma Alpha Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority[8] and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology in 1969.

[10][3] She was then a social worker with Catholic charities in Pascagoula, Mississippi, where she advocated for the city's shipyard to offer training to unskilled black laborers.

Later, working at New York based consulting firm RTP, Herman led programs designed to provide apprenticeships for women in nontraditional jobs.

[19] Clinton then appointed her director of the White House Office of Public Liaison, where she was responsible for the administration's relations with interest groups.

[20] In that role, Herman repeatedly organized informal dinners to advance White House initiatives or assuage key groups.

[20] She earned the support of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Congressional Black Caucus as part of her outreach efforts.

[3] Her time as director also included the death of Commerce Secretary, and Herman's former boss at the Democratic National Committee, Ronald Brown in a plane crash.

The second was because Senate Republicans refused to allow a vote on her nomination, as part of their opposition to a proposed executive order related to federal construction projects, which Clinton eventually abandoned.

[28] The Department of Labor is tasked with enforcing a variety of workplace laws and regulations, including safety issues and anti-discrimination.

[26][20][29] After the strike began in August, Herman met privately with the Teamsters' president and the UPS chairman to frame the issues.

[20] Herman's role in resolving the strike raised her public profile as she began to pursue her agenda as Secretary.

[36] Opponents, including other nations, trade unions, and Amnesty International urged tougher provisions; however, Herman contended the focus of the treaty should be on forced labor, not voluntary military service.

[37] Attorney General Janet Reno appointed Independent Council Ralph I. Lancaster Jr., in May 1998, to investigate Herman after businessman Laurent J. Yene alleged she accepted kickbacks while working at the White House.

[39] Following a twenty-three month investigation, Independent Council Lancaster concluded that Herman had broken no laws and cleared her of all wrongdoing.

[50] Herman served on the boards of other major companies, including Cummins, MGM Resorts International, Entergy, Sodexo, and is the chairman and CEO of New Ventures, Inc.[51] In 2010, Herman was appointed to the board of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, a charitable organization founded by Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to aid Haiti following a magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake in January of that year.