Gwendolyn S. King (born August 23, 1940, in

East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a city in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 69,612. The city was the state's 20th most-populous municipality in 2010, after having been the state's 14th most-po ...

) is an American businesswoman. From 1989 to 1992 she was the Commissioner of the U.S.

Social Security Administration The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability and survivor benefits. To qualify f ...

Early life

King attended

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

as an undergraduate, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and education in 1962. She later attended the

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...

, where she earned a master's degree in public administration in 1974.

Career

King began her career teaching in

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the U.S. state, state ...

, New York and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, DC. Beginning in 1971, she worked for the Department of Health and Human Services (then called the

Department of Health, Education and Welfare The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

). From 1978 to 1979, she served as senior legislative assistant to

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

John Heinz Henry John Heinz III (October 23, 1938 – April 4, 1991) was an American businessman and Republican politician from Pennsylvania. Heinz represented the Pittsburgh suburbs in the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977 ...

. In 1986, she was appointed Deputy Assistant to President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

and Director of the office for Intergovernmental Affairs. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush appointed King as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration. King became the 11th Commissioner and the first black woman to hold the position. She served through 1992. King is now a member of the board of directors of

Lockheed-Martin Corporation The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is ...

and Monsanto Company. She is also formerly a director of

Pharmacia Pharmacia was a pharmaceutical and biotechnological company in Sweden that merged with the American pharmaceutical company Upjohn in 1995. History Pharmacia company was founded in 1911 in Stockholm, Sweden by pharmacist Gustav Felix Grönfeldt ...

. She is also a director of the

National Association of Corporate Directors The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) is an independent, not-for-profit, section 501(c)(3) founded in 1977 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. NACD's membership includes the entire boards of 1,700+ corporations as well as ...

Awards

King has been awarded honorary doctorates from the University of New Haven and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

Personal life

King is married to

Colbert I. King Colbert Isaiah King (born September 20, 1939) is an American columnist for ''The Washington Post'' and the deputy editor of the ''Posts editorial page. In 2003, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Early life King was born to Amelia ...

, ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' columnist and the editorial page's deputy editor. The two met at Howard in the late 1950s and married in 1961. They have three children, including Rob King, senior vice president of SportsCenter and News at

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Gwendolyn 1940 births American businesspeople Commissioners of the Social Security Administration Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration alumni Living people People from East Orange, New Jersey Howard University alumni Reagan administration personnel George H. W. Bush administration personnel