Governor Deval Patrick was sworn in as governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on January 4, 2007, and was sworn in for a second term on January 6, 2011. In 2022, he joined Harvard Kennedy School as a professor of the practice of public leadership and as co-director of the School’s Center for Public Leadership (CPL).

After earning his law degree, Patrick served as a law clerk to a federal appellate judge before joining the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund as a staff attorney. In 1986, he joined the Boston law firm of Hill & Barlow and was named partner in 1990, at the age of 34. In 1994, President Clinton appointed Patrick Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, the nation’s top civil rights post. At the Justice Department, Patrick worked on a wide range of issues, including prosecution of hate crimes, and the enforcement of employment discrimination, fair lending and disabilities rights laws.

In 1997, Patrick was appointed the first chairperson of Texaco’s Equality and Fairness Task Force where he led a company-wide effort to create a more equitable workplace environment. Patrick later served as Texaco’s Vice President and General Counsel, leading the company’s global legal affairs, and as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the Coca-Cola Company, a member of the company’s senior leadership team.

Patrick graduated from Harvard College in 1978 and earned his law degree from Harvard Law School. Diane and Deval Patrick have been married for more than 25 years and have two adult daughters.

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