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Federico Peña
8th United States Secretary of Energy
In office March 12, 1997 – June 30, 1998
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Hazel R. O'Leary
Succeeded by	Bill Richardson
12th United States Secretary of Transportation
In office January 21, 1993 – February 14, 1997
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Andrew Card
Succeeded by	Rodney E. Slater
41st Mayor of Denver
In office July 2, 1983 – July 15, 1991
Preceded by	William H. McNichols Jr.
Succeeded by	Wellington Webb
Member of the Colorado House of Representatives
In office January 10, 1979 – July 2, 1983
Personal details
Born	Federico Fabian Peña (1947-03-15) March 15, 1947 (age 77) Laredo, Texas, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouses	Ellen Hart ​ ​(m. 1988; div. 2001)​ Cindy Velasquez ​(m. 2006)​
Children	3
Education	University of Texas at Austin (BA, JD)

Federico Fabian Peña (born March 15, 1947) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 12th United States secretary of transportation from 1993 to 1997 and the 8th United States secretary of energy from 1997 to 1998, during the presidency of Bill Clinton. He previously served as the 41st mayor of Denver from 1983 to 1991.

Early life

Born in Laredo, Texas, Peña earned a Bachelor of Arts (1969) and Juris Doctor (1972) from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas School of Law, respectively.

Career

Moving to Colorado, where he became a practicing attorney, Peña was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1979, where he rose to become Minority Leader.

Mayor of Denver

In 1983, Peña defeated William H. McNichols Jr., a 74-year old incumbent, to become the first Hispanic mayor of Denver, a post to which he was re-elected in 1987. During his time as mayor in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was instrumental in bringing the Colorado Rockies baseball team to Denver in 1993 .

Clinton administration

Peña advised Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton on transportation issues during Clinton's presidential transition and thereafter Clinton chose Peña to head the United States Department of Transportation.

In 1995 the Justice Department conducted a preliminary investigation into a California transit agency's awarding of a pension management contract to Peña's former investment management firm. However, Peña had severed all ties to his former company both prior to the contract and prior to becoming Transportation Secretary. On March 17, 1995 Janet Reno ended the investigation.

Although he had intended to leave Clinton's cabinet after a single term, Peña also served as secretary of energy from 1997 to 1998. During his 18-month tenure, Peña led an organization of 16,000 direct employees with a budget of $18 billion. He developed the Clinton administration's Comprehensive National Energy Strategy and oversaw the largest privatization in the history of the U.S. Government—the $3.654 billion sale of the Elk Hills Oil Field, formerly known as Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1. He crafted the Clinton Administration's strategy for oil and gas development in the Caspian Sea region and supported U.S. energy companies' investments around the world.

Later career

Upon leaving the Clinton administration, Peña returned to Denver. In August 1998, he joined private equity firm Vestar Capital Partners where he is a senior advisor.

Peña Boulevard, a freeway in Denver and neighboring Aurora connecting Denver International Airport to Interstate 70, is named for him. As mayor of Denver, Peña led the effort to build the airport. In addition, Peña's vision ("Imagine a Great City") resulted in the revitalization of Denver economy with a new convention center, modernized Cherry Creek Shopping Center, neighborhood retail efforts, expanded library and performing arts center, and recruitment of the Colorado Rockies major league baseball team.

Peña is the father of three children: Nelia, Cristina, and Ryan Peña. The divorce of Federico Peña and his first wife, Ellen Hart Peña, became final on September 10, 2001. Federico Peña married Cindy Velasquez on September 2, 2006. Cindy Velasquez is a former broadcast executive for Channel 7, KMGH-TV, and Channel 9, KUSA-TV, in Denver, Colorado and has a daughter, Pilar.

Peña was a National Co-Chair of the COMPETE Coalition, an organization of energy stakeholders including large power generators, large retail power consumers and energy efficiency/smart grid groups. Today he serves on several corporate boards and is involved in several philanthropic organizations.

On September 7, 2007, Peña announced that he would endorse Senator Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, and also serve as Obama's National Campaign Co-chair. The move was notable in that Peña did not endorse Senator Hillary Clinton, the wife of the president under whom he served. On November 5, 2008, he was named to the advisory board of the Obama-Biden Transition Project.

On October 26, 2011, Peña was elected to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of Wells Fargo. Peña was appointed to the University of Denver Board of Trustees in June 2015.

• Biography
• Texas
• Colorado
• Politics
• Liberalism
• Law
• Christianity

References

1. Peterson, Iver (25 December 1983). "DENVER WORKS AT SELLING ITSELF AS SPORTS CITY". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
2. "Secretary of Transportation Will Not Face a Prosecutor", New York Times, March 17, 1995
3. "Peña Resigns as Energy Secretary, Citing Concerns for Family", New York Times, April 7, 1998
4. CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive – Clinton cabinet member backs Obama « – Blogs from CNN.com
5. Sweet, Lynn Jarrett, Podesta, Rouse to lead Obama transition; Bill Daley co-chair Archived December 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Chicago Sun-Times, November 5, 2008
6. "Wells Fargo - News Releases". Archived from the original on 2014-04-06. Retrieved 2012-01-27.

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Membership at the Council on Foreign Relations

v t e Mayors of Denver, Colorado
Moore Cook Steck Brendlinger Clark DeLano Clayton Stiles Harper Bates Case Barker Buckingham Stiles Sopris Morris Routt Bates Lee Londoner Rogers Van Horn McMurray Johnson Wright Speer Arnold Perkins Sharpley Speer Mills Bailey Stapleton Begole Stapleton Newton Nicholson Batterton Currigan McNichols Peña Webb Hickenlooper Vidal Hancock Johnston

v t e United States secretaries of energy
Schlesinger Duncan Edwards Hodel Herrington Watkins O'Leary Peña Richardson Abraham Bodman Chu Moniz Perry Brouillette Granholm

v t e United States secretaries of transportation
Boyd Volpe Brinegar Coleman Adams Goldschmidt Lewis Dole Burnley Skinner Card Peña Slater Mineta Peters LaHood Foxx Chao Buttigieg

v t e Cabinet of President Bill Clinton (1993–2001)
Cabinet Vice President Al Gore (1993–2001) tenure Secretary of State Warren Christopher (1993–1997) Madeleine Albright (1997–2001) Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen (1993–1994) Robert Rubin (1995–1999) Lawrence Summers (1999–2001) Secretary of Defense Les Aspin (1993–1994) William J. Perry (1994–1997) William Cohen (1997–2001) Attorney General Janet Reno (1993–2001) Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt (1993–2001) Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy (1993–1994) Dan Glickman (1995–2001) Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown (1993–1996) Mickey Kantor (1996–1997) William M. Daley (1997–2000) Norman Mineta (2000–2001) Secretary of Labor Robert Reich (1993–1997) Alexis Herman (1997–2001) Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala (1993–2001) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros (1993–1997) Andrew Cuomo (1997–2001) Secretary of Transportation Federico Peña (1993–1997) Rodney E. Slater (1997–2001) Secretary of Energy Hazel R. O'Leary (1993–1997) Federico Peña (1997–1998) Bill Richardson (1998–2001) Secretary of Education Richard Riley (1993–2001) Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jesse Brown (1993–1997) Togo D. West Jr. (1998–2000)
Cabinet-level Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Carol Browner (1993–2001) Director of the Office of Management and Budget Leon Panetta (1993–1994) Alice Rivlin (1994–1996) Franklin Raines (1996–1998) Jack Lew (1998–2001) Director of Central Intelligence John M. Deutch (1995–1996) George Tenet (1996–2001) Trade Representative Mickey Kantor (1993–1996) Charlene Barshefsky (1996–2001) Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright (1993–1997) Bill Richardson (1997–1998) Richard Holbrooke (1999–2001) Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Laura Tyson (1993–1995) Joseph Stiglitz (1995–1997) Janet Yellen (1997–1999) Martin Neil Baily (1999–2001) Administrator of the Small Business Administration Philip Lader (1994–1997) Aida Álvarez (1997–2001) Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency James Lee Witt (1993–2001)* Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Lee P. Brown (1993–1996) Barry McCaffrey (1996–2001) White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty (1993–1994) Leon Panetta (1994–1997) Erskine Bowles (1997–1998) John Podesta (1998–2001) * took office in 1993, raised to cabinet-rank in 1996

• 1947 births
• 20th-century mayors of places in Colorado
• American politicians of Mexican descent
• Clinton administration cabinet members
• Hispanic and Latino American mayors
• Hispanic and Latino American members of the Cabinet of the United States
• Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Colorado
• Lawyers from Denver
• Living people
• Mayors of Denver
• Democratic Party members of the Colorado House of Representatives
• People from Laredo, Texas
• Saint Joseph Academy (Brownsville, Texas) alumni
• United States secretaries of energy
• Secretaries of transportation of the United States
• University of Denver people
• University of Texas School of Law alumni
• 20th-century members of the Colorado General Assembly