Pete Buttigieg served from 2021 to 2025 as the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. During his tenure, he worked to launch over 70,000 infrastructure projects across the country, improve transportation and safety technology, expand airline passenger protections, and resolve pandemic-related supply chain disruptions.
Before serving as secretary, Buttigieg was elected at 29 years old and served two terms as mayor of South Bend, Indiana. He led the city to its strongest period of economic and population growth in decades. For seven years, Buttigieg also served as an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, taking a leave of absence from his role as mayor in 2014 to deploy to Afghanistan. As a candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. President, his historic campaign won the Iowa caucuses and finished second in the New Hampshire primary.
Buttigieg earned his bachelor’s degree in history and literature from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, politics, and economics at the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.