Janet Napolitano is the first female, the first Hispanic, and the first U.S. Senate-confirmed Latina to hold a cabinet-level position in a president's administration. While serving as President Obama's Secretary of Homeland Security, Napolitano established a new strategic focus on cybersecurity and led efforts to improve border security and national preparedness for all hazards. She was born in Santa Rosa, California, on March 28, 1956
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Her father was from Mexico and her mother from Mexico City. Napolitano earned a bachelor's degree in public administration from Sonoma State University in 1978 and a master's degree in public policy from Claremont Graduate University in 1983. In 1986, she began working at the San Francisco District Attorney's Office as a deputy district attorney.
After several years working in private practice at the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson, she became a professor at George Washington University Law School where she taught administrative law and regulatory policy. When she left GWU Law School in 2001 to serve as Arizona's top federal prosecutor, she was named by "The National Law Journal" as one of the top ten best judges in America under forty years old. In 2003, she ran for Arizona's Attorney General but lost to Terry Goddard by more than 20 points.
In 2004, she was elected Arizona's Superintendent of Public Instruction by an overwhelming margin and served until 2009 when she took office as Secretary of Homeland Security. Napolitano is married to Peter Lewis and has two children: Michael and Jennifer. She resides in Washington D.C., with her husband and two children