Editing Elaine Chao (section)

===Early career===
Before being appointed to government work, Chao was a vice president for [[Syndicated loan|syndications]] at [[Bank of America]] Capital Markets Group in San Francisco, and she was an international banker at [[Citicorp]] in New York.<ref name=bb>{{cite web |title=Elaine L. Chao |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=558041&ticker=NWSA&previousCapId=172899&previousTitle=CIGNA%20CORP |website=Bloomberg Business |access-date=February 18, 2015 |archive-date=February 22, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150222025725/http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=558041&ticker=NWSA&previousCapId=172899&previousTitle=CIGNA%20CORP |url-status=live }}</ref> She was granted a [[White House Fellowship]] during the [[Reagan Administration]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Appointment of the 1983–1984 White House Fellows|url=https://www.reaganlibrary.archives.gov/archives/speeches/1983/52583d.htm|publisher=Reagan Library|access-date=March 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322014400/https://www.reaganlibrary.archives.gov/archives/speeches/1983/52583d.htm|archive-date=March 22, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management - Secretary Elaine Chao Presents Awards at the 2005 Honor Awards Ceremony - DPLA - 7b912d5460eb9375a48628bd13d33f48 (page 287) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Chao in 2005]]
In 1986, Chao became Deputy Administrator of the [[United States Maritime Administration|Maritime Administration]] in the [[U.S. Department of Transportation]]. From 1988 to 1989, she served as chairwoman of the [[Federal Maritime Commission]].<ref name=bio>{{Cite news |url=http://www.biography.com/people/elaine-l-chao-214142#synopsis |title=Elaine L. Chao Biography |publisher=[[FYI (U.S. TV channel)|Bio.]] |access-date=September 9, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141221034347/http://www.biography.com/people/elaine-l-chao-214142#synopsis |archive-date=December 21, 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1989, then-president George H.W. Bush nominated Chao to be Deputy Secretary of Transportation; she served from 1989 to 1991.<ref name="picks" /> From 1991 to 1992, she was the director of the Peace Corps.<ref name=bio/> She was the first [[Asian American]] to serve in any of these positions. She expanded the Peace Corps' presence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia by establishing the first Peace Corps programs in [[Poland]], [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Estonia]], and the newly independent states of the former [[Soviet Union]], including the first Peace Corps programs in Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Russia.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/1991/1001/01072.html|title=Peace Corps Enters the '90s Invited into Eastern Europe|last=Shillinger|first=Kurt|date=October 1, 1991|work=The Christian Science Monitor|access-date=March 26, 2017|issn=0882-7729|archive-date=February 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224171400/https://www.csmonitor.com/1991/1001/01072.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.deseret.com/1991/11/7/18950291/peace-corps-plans-to-send-volunteers-to-baltics-in-1992/|title=PEACE CORPS PLANS TO SEND VOLUNTEERS TO BALTICS IN 1992|date=November 7, 1991|work=DeseretNews.com|access-date=March 26, 2017|language=en|archive-date=August 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180824120248/https://www.deseretnews.com/article/192371/PEACE-CORPS-PLANS-TO-SEND-VOLUNTEERS-TO-BALTICS-IN-1992.html|url-status=live}}</ref>