United States Secretary of Commerce

The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary reports directly to the president and is a statutory member of the Cabinet of the United States. The secretary is appointed by the president, with the advice and consent of the United States Senate. The secretary of commerce is responsible for promoting American businesses and industries. The department states its mission as 'to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce of the United States'.^[2]

United States Secretary of Commerce
Seal of the U.S. Department of Commerce
Flag of the secretary
Incumbent Howard Lutnick since February 21, 2025
United States Department of Commerce
Style	Mr. Secretary (informal) The Honorable (formal)
Member of	Cabinet
Reports to	President of the United States
Seat	Herbert C. Hoover Building, Washington, D.C.
Appointer	President of the United States with United States Senate advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	15 U.S.C. § 1501
Precursor	Secretary of Commerce and Labor
Formation	March 5, 1913; 112 years ago (1913-03-05)
First holder	William C. Redfield
Succession	Tenth[1]
Deputy	Deputy Secretary of Commerce
Salary	Executive Schedule, Level I
Website	Commerce.gov

The Commerce Secretary's office as it looked in the mid-20th century.

Until 1913, there was one secretary of commerce and labor, uniting this department with the United States Department of Labor, which is now headed by a separate United States secretary of labor.^[3]

The secretary of commerce is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule^[4] with an annual salary of US$221,400, as of January 2021.^[5]

The current secretary of commerce is Howard Lutnick.^[6]

List of U.S. secretaries of commerce

Parties

  Independent (1)   Democratic (21)   Republican (19)

Status

  Denotes acting commerce secretary

No.	Portrait	Name[7]	State of residence	Took office	Left office	President(s)
1		William C. Redfield	New York	March 5, 1913	October 31, 1919		Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921)
2		Joshua W. Alexander	Missouri	December 16, 1919	March 4, 1921
3		Herbert Hoover	California	March 5, 1921	August 21, 1928		Warren G. Harding (1921–1923)
							Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)
4		William F. Whiting	Massachusetts	August 22, 1928	March 4, 1929
5		Robert P. Lamont	Illinois	March 5, 1929	August 7, 1932		Herbert Hoover (1929–1933)
6		Roy D. Chapin	Michigan	August 8, 1932	March 3, 1933
7		Daniel C. Roper	South Carolina	March 4, 1933	December 23, 1938		Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945)
8		Harry Hopkins	New York	December 24, 1938	September 18, 1940
9		Jesse H. Jones	Texas	September 19, 1940	March 1, 1945
10		Henry A. Wallace	Iowa	March 2, 1945	September 20, 1946
							Harry S. Truman (1945–1953)
–		Alfred Schindler Acting	Missouri	September 20, 1946	October 7, 1946
11		W. Averell Harriman	New York	October 7, 1946	April 22, 1948
12		Charles W. Sawyer	Ohio	May 6, 1948	January 20, 1953
13		Sinclair Weeks	Massachusetts	January 21, 1953	November 10, 1958		Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961)
-		Lewis Strauss	New York	November 13, 1958	June 30, 1959
14		Frederick H. Mueller	Michigan	June 30, 1959	August 10, 1959
				August 10, 1959	January 19, 1961
15		Luther H. Hodges	North Carolina	January 21, 1961	January 15, 1965		John F. Kennedy (1961–1963)
							Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–1969)
16		John T. Connor	New Jersey	January 18, 1965	January 31, 1967
17		Alexander Trowbridge	New York	January 31, 1967	June 14, 1967
				June 14, 1967	March 1, 1968
18		C. R. Smith	New York	March 6, 1968	January 19, 1969
19		Maurice Stans	New York	January 21, 1969	February 15, 1972		Richard Nixon (1969–1974)
20		Peter G. Peterson	Illinois	February 29, 1972	February 1, 1973
21		Frederick B. Dent	South Carolina	February 2, 1973	March 26, 1975
							Gerald Ford (1974–1977)
22		Rogers Morton	Maryland	May 1, 1975	February 2, 1976
23		Elliot Richardson	Massachusetts	February 2, 1976	January 20, 1977
24		Juanita M. Kreps	North Carolina	January 23, 1977	October 31, 1979		Jimmy Carter (1977–1981)
–		Luther H. Hodges Jr. Acting	North Carolina	October 31, 1979	January 9, 1980
25		Philip Klutznick	Illinois	January 9, 1980	January 20, 1981
26		Malcolm Baldrige Jr.	Connecticut	January 20, 1981	July 25, 1987		Ronald Reagan (1981–1989)
–		Bud Brown Acting	Ohio	July 25, 1987	October 19, 1987
27		William Verity Jr.	Ohio	October 19, 1987	January 30, 1989
28		Robert Mosbacher	Texas	January 31, 1989	January 15, 1992		George H. W. Bush (1989–1993)
–		Rockwell A. Schnabel Acting	California	January 15, 1992	February 27, 1992
29		Barbara Franklin	Pennsylvania	February 27, 1992	January 20, 1993
30		Ron Brown	New York	January 20, 1993	April 3, 1996		Bill Clinton (1993–2001)
–		Mary L. Good Acting	Texas	April 3, 1996	April 12, 1996
31		Mickey Kantor	Tennessee	April 12, 1996	January 21, 1997
32		William M. Daley	Illinois	January 30, 1997	July 19, 2000
–		Robert L. Mallett Acting	Texas	July 19, 2000	July 21, 2000
33		Norman Mineta	California	July 21, 2000	January 20, 2001
34		Donald Evans	Texas	January 20, 2001	February 7, 2005		George W. Bush (2001–2009)
35		Carlos Gutierrez	Florida	February 7, 2005	January 20, 2009
–		Otto J. Wolff Acting		January 20, 2009	March 26, 2009		Barack Obama (2009–2017)
36		Gary Locke	Washington	March 26, 2009	August 1, 2011
–		Rebecca Blank Acting	Minnesota	August 1, 2011	October 21, 2011
37		John Bryson	New York	October 21, 2011	June 11, 2012
–		Rebecca Blank Acting	Minnesota	June 11, 2012	June 1, 2013
–		Cameron Kerry Acting	Massachusetts	June 1, 2013	June 26, 2013
38		Penny Pritzker	Illinois	June 26, 2013	January 20, 2017
–	Vacant			January 20, 2017	February 28, 2017		Donald Trump (2017–2021)
39		Wilbur Ross	Florida	February 28, 2017	January 20, 2021
–		Wynn Coggins Acting	Virginia	January 20, 2021	March 3, 2021		Joe Biden (2021–2025)
40		Gina Raimondo	Rhode Island	March 3, 2021	January 20, 2025
–		Jeremy Pelter Acting	Maryland	January 20, 2025	February 21, 2025		Donald Trump (2025–present)
41		Howard Lutnick	New York	February 21, 2025	Incumbent

Line of succession

The line of succession for the secretary of commerce is as follows:^[8]

1. Deputy Secretary of Commerce
2. General Counsel of the Department of Commerce
3. Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade
4. Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs
5. Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology
6. Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
7. Under Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration
8. Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Commerce and Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Administration
9. Boulder Laboratories Site Manager, National Institute of Standards and Technology