President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Marcia Fudge as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
The position: Advises on housing policy, focused on improving housing affordability and accessibility. Oversees mortgage and loan insurance through the Federal Housing Administration.
Marcia Louise Fudge was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952.
A 1971 graduate of Shaker Heights High School, she earned her Bachelor of Science in business from Ohio State University in 1975.
In 1983, she earned a Juris Doctor from Cleveland State University Cleveland–Marshall College of Law.
Immediately after college, she worked as a law clerk and studied legal research. She also worked in the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office as Director of Budget and Finance.
Fudge has also worked as an auditor for the estate tax department and has occasionally served as a visiting judge and as a chief referee for arbitration.
Fudge was the mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, from January 2000 until November 18, 2008.
She was the town’s first female and first African American to hold the mayorship.
Fudge served as chief of staff to U.S. Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones during Jones’s first term in Congress.
After the death of Stephanie Tubbs Jones on August 20, 2008, Fudge won the 2008 special election uncontested.
She has continued to serve as the U.S. Representative for Ohio’s 11th congressional district.
She has also served on the board of trustees for the Cleveland Public Library.