Norman Y. Mineta, former U.S. secretary of commerce and U.S. secretary of transportation, joined the Mansfield Foundation Board in 2006. Secretary Mineta is vice chairman of the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton. He was appointed U.S. secretary of transportation by President Bush in 2001 and served until July 2006 – the longest-serving transportation secretary in the department’s history. In 2000, Secretary Mineta was appointed U.S. secretary of commerce by President Clinton. From 1975 to 1995, Secretary Mineta represented the Silicon Valley area of his home state of California in the U.S. House of Representatives, and he also served as vice president of Lockheed Martin and mayor of San Jose, California.
Secretary Mineta and his family were among the 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry forced from their homes and into internment camps during World War II. After graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, Secretary Mineta joined the army in 1953 and served as an intelligence officer in Japan and Korea. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to the field of civil rights and for excellence in public service.