Slater, Rodney Earl, 1955-

Rodney Earl Slater (born February 23, 1955) is an American lawyer and politician. He notably served as the United States Secretary of Transportation under President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001. Prior to being appointed to the Clinton Cabinet, Slater served as the administrator of the Federal Highway Administration from 1993 to 1997.

Born in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, he moved to Marianna, Arkansas as a small child. Slater attended segregated schools in Marianna until the eleventh grade, when he attended the newly integrated Lee High School, where he was a class officer. Following high school graduation, Slater earned a B.A. degree from Eastern Michigan University and a J.D. degree from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Law School. Admitted to the Arkansas bar in 1980, he served as an assistant attorney general in the litigation division under Attorney General Steve Clark from 1980 to 1982. Slater left that office to join Clinton’s staff, also serving as his deputy campaign manager in 1984 and 1986. Clinton appointed Slater special assistant to the governor for community and minority affairs, followed by the position of executive assistant to the governor for economic and community programs. In 1987, Clinton named him to the Arkansas Highway Commission, where he was the youngest commissioner and the first African American to serve on that state board. Slater was elected chairman in December 1992. From 1987 to 1992, Slater was also director of governmental relations for Arkansas State University.

Taking a leave of absence from ASU, Slater served as deputy campaign manager and senior travel adviser for the 1992 Clinton–Gore presidential campaign. After Clinton’s election, Slater served as an aide to Clinton’s transition director, Warren Christopher. Clinton named Slater director of the Federal Highway Administration in March 1993. The agency’s first African-American administrator in its century-long history, Slater developed an innovative financing program that resulted in the completion of hundreds of projects ahead of schedule with greater cost efficiencies. On February 14, 1997, Slater replaced Federico Pena as transportation secretary, overseeing the nation’s highways, airways, railways, and waterways. He held the post until the end of the Clinton administration in 2001. As transportation secretary, Slater proved popular with the legislative and executive branches of government as well as industry officials.

Slater currently serves as a partner with the Washington, D.C. law firm Squire Patton Boggs, where he is head of the transportation practice and works on projects related to the transportation infrastructure. He is also a partner in James Lee Witt Associates, a risk management firm headed by former Federal Emergency Management Agency director James Lee Witt.