O'Leary, Hazel Rollins

May 17, 1937

Fisk University President Hazel Rollins O'Leary, a former corporate executive and U.S. Secretary of Energy, was born and raised in the seaport city of Newport News, Virginia. She graduated from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1959 and earned a law degree from Rutgers in 1966. In New Jersey she began a career in law enforcement, serving as an assistant state attorney general and later as an Essex County prosecutor. In the early 1970s O'Leary moved to Washington, D.C., and became a partner at the accounting firm of Coopers and Lybrand. She later joined the Federal Energy Administration during the Ford presidency. She served in President Jimmy Carter's Energy Department as head of the Economic Regulatory Administration. While there, Rollins befriended John F. O'Leary, the deputy energy secretary. The couple married in 1980 and formed an energy consulting firm, O'Leary Associates. After John O'Leary died in 1987, Hazel O'Leary closed the consulting firm.

In 1989 O'Leary was named executive vice president for corporate affairs at the Minneapolis-based Northern States Power Company, one of the largest gas and electric utilities in the Midwest. She was in charge of environmental affairs, public relations, and lobbying. As an energy policy maker O'Leary advocated decreased dependence on oil and coal, promoted fuel conservation, and helped develop a program at Northern States Power to generate electricity with windmills. She was also a proponent of nuclear power, and her goals included the creation of safe storage methods for nuclear waste.

The policy of Northern States Power regarding the storage of nuclear waste earned O'Leary some criticism from environmental groups. In 1990 Northern States sought to build nuclear storage facilities at Prairie Island, Minnesota, next to the Mdewakanton Sioux Indian Reservation. After the Sioux protested, a judge prohibited an expansion of the nuclear waste site. O'Leary then drafted a compromise with regulators that permitted Northern States to open the storage facility on a reduced scale. Her background in energy regulation and her commitment to conservation attracted the attention of President Bill Clinton, who in 1993 offered O'Leary the post of secretary of energy. When confirmed, O'Leary became the first woman ever to hold that post.

O'Leary's tenure as energy secretary was troubled. Critics charged that she had sold access to her office by forcing companies to contribute to her favorite charity. Following her resignation on January 20, 1997, a special prosecutor was appointed to investigate the allegations. Shortly afterward, O'Leary again made headlines when she admitted in a deposition that watchdogs who made complaints in nuclear facilities were routinely harassed.

In 2000, African-American investment banking firm Blaylock & Partners of New York appointed O'Leary chief operating officer. She remained with the firm until 2002, while continuing to serve on the boards of various commercial and nonprofit organizations. O'Leary was named President of Fisk University in 2004.

See also Politics in the United States

Bibliography

Haywood, Richette L. "Secretary O'Leary: Bright, Charming, Tough." Ebony 50, no. 4 (February 1995): 94–97.

Nixon, Will. "Bill and Al's Green Adventure." Environmental Magazine (May 1993).

james bradley (1996)
Updated by publisher 2005