Hazel Reid O’Leary (born May 17, 1937) is an American lawyer, energy policy expert, government official, and university administrator best known as the seventh U.S. Secretary of Energy (1993–1997) under President Bill Clinton. She was the first woman and first African American to hold the cabinet post. She later served as the 14th president of Fisk University, her alma mater, from 2004 to 2013.
Born Hazel Reid in Newport News, Virginia, she was the daughter of physicians Russell E. Reid and Hazel Palleman Reid. Her parents divorced when she was about 18 months old. She and her older sister Edna were primarily raised by their father and stepmother, Mattie Ross Reid (a teacher), in the East End neighborhood of Newport News and briefly in Hampton. The family lived a relatively privileged life for the era amid the constraints of segregation. After attending segregated schools in Virginia through the eighth grade, she and her sister were sent to live with an aunt in Essex County, New Jersey, to attend the integrated Arts High School (High School of Fine and Performing Arts) in Newark, where she studied music (violin and French horn), singing, acting, and other arts.
O’Leary entered Fisk University, a historically Black institution in Nashville, Tennessee, in the mid-1950s and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1959 (sources note studies in history, government, or economics), earning election to Phi Beta Kappa. She later earned her law degree (LLB/JD) from Rutgers School of Law in Newark in 1966. Early in adulthood she married Carl G. Rollins Jr.; they had a son, Carl, and later divorced. A subsequent marriage to journalist Max Robinson was annulled. In 1980 she married John F. O’Leary, a former deputy energy secretary; he died in 1987.
Her professional career began in New Jersey as an assistant prosecutor in Essex County handling organized crime cases and as an assistant attorney general for the state. After moving to Washington, D.C., she worked at the accounting and consulting firm Coopers & Lybrand. During the Ford administration she served as director of the Office of Consumer Affairs at the Federal Energy Administration and as general counsel of the Community Services Administration. Under President Jimmy Carter she held senior energy roles, including assistant administrator of the Federal Energy Administration and administrator of the Economic Regulatory Administration at the newly created Department of Energy.
In 1981 she and her husband founded the energy consulting firm O’Leary & Associates, where she served as vice president and general counsel. After his death she joined Northern States Power Company (a major Midwest utility) in 1989 as executive vice president for environmental and public affairs (and later other senior roles, including leadership of its natural gas division). Her combination of regulatory experience, private-sector utility management, and focus on conservation and environmental issues made her a notable figure in energy policy circles.
President-elect Bill Clinton nominated her as Secretary of Energy in late 1992; she was confirmed by the Senate and took office on January 22, 1993. She oversaw a department with tens of thousands of employees and a broad portfolio spanning nuclear weapons stewardship, energy research, environmental cleanup of former weapons sites, and civilian energy policy. Key priorities included greater openness and transparency: she launched an initiative that declassified Cold War-era records, including documentation of secret U.S. government human radiation experiments on unsuspecting American citizens. This led to the creation of the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments. She also emphasized energy efficiency and renewable energy, supported research and partnerships to commercialize efficient appliances and technologies (solar, wind, vehicles, buildings), sought safer approaches to nuclear waste disposal, and backed efforts related to nuclear nonproliferation and ending nuclear testing. She opposed certain energy tax increases and promoted an “all-of-the-above” strategic approach that balanced efficiency, renewables, and responsible fossil fuel use.
Her tenure was not without controversy. Critics scrutinized extensive international travel (including large delegations on costly trips), spending that sometimes exceeded appropriated limits, and management practices. She apologized to congressional committees regarding travel expenditures. Allegations also surfaced involving access or meetings tied to charitable donations (e.g., involving Africare), though formal investigations into some claims did not proceed. She announced her resignation in late 1996 and left office in January 1997 at the end of Clinton’s first term.
After leaving government, O’Leary returned to consulting and served in senior roles at Blaylock & Partners, an investment banking firm (including as president and COO). In 2004 she became president of Fisk University during a period of financial strain. Under her leadership the university increased enrollment. She made contentious decisions to leverage or sell portions of the school’s valuable art collection to raise funds and stabilize finances—moves that drew both support for institutional survival and criticism from those concerned about cultural heritage. She left the presidency in early 2013.
Throughout her career O’Leary has served on numerous boards and supported nonprofit causes, including environmental organizations (such as the World Wildlife Fund), education (Morehouse College, United Negro College Fund), arms control, the arts in Nashville, and other civic groups. She established or supported initiatives such as professorships benefiting historically Black colleges and universities in environmental disciplines. She has remained associated with energy, education, and public service issues into later life.
O’Leary’s path—from a segregated Southern childhood through elite education, legal practice, dual public-private energy experience, a groundbreaking cabinet role, and university leadership—illustrates both the barriers faced by African American women of her generation and the expanding opportunities in American public life. Her energy secretary years are particularly remembered for advancing transparency about past government nuclear activities and elevating efficiency and renewable priorities within federal policy, even as administrative controversies marked the period. As president of Fisk she navigated the practical challenges of sustaining a historic HBCU. Her career spans law, regulation, corporate management, cabinet service, and higher education administration, leaving a record defined by pioneering firsts and pragmatic engagement with complex policy and institutional problems.