She grew up in Holland, Michigan, the daughter of Elsa (Zwiep) Prince (later, Broekhuizen) and Edgar Prince, a billionaire industrialist 19 20 of Dutch ancestry.

16 17 18 Early lifeĭeVos was born Elisabeth Prince on January 8, 1958. history that a Cabinet nominee's confirmation was decided by the Vice President's tiebreaking vote. 15 On February 7, 2017, she was confirmed by the Senate by a 51–50 margin, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking the tie in favor of her nomination. 14 On January 31, following strong opposition to the nomination from Democrats, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions approved her nomination on a party-line vote, sending her nomination to the Senate floor. On November 23, 2016, then- President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would nominate DeVos to serve as Secretary of Education in his administration. 11 12 In 2016, the family was listed by Forbes as the 88th-richest in America, with an estimated net worth of $5.4 billion. 10 Their father is Edgar Prince, founder of the Prince Corporation. Navy SEAL officer, is the founder of Blackwater USA. 8 9 Her brother, Erik Prince, a former U.S. She has served as chair of the board of the Alliance for School Choice and the Acton Institute and headed the All Children Matter 7 PAC, which has received wide criticism for allegedly meddling in elections at the state level.ĭeVos is married to Dick DeVos, the former CEO of the multi-level marketing company Amway, and is the daughter-in-law of Amway's billionaire co-founder, Richard DeVos. She has advocated for the Detroit charter school system 5 6 and she is a member of the board of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. 1 2 3 4 She was Republican National Committeewoman for Michigan from 1992 to 1997 and served as chair of the Michigan Republican Party from 1996 to 2000, with reelection to the post in 2003. Elisabeth Dee DeVos ( / d ə ˈ v ɒ s/ née Prince born January 8, 1958) is the 11th and current United States Secretary of Education since 2017.ĭeVos is a Republican known for her support for school choice, school voucher programs, and charter schools.

Family of Warriors by Ed Devos