Biography
Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was honored as the 2015 recipient of the NFF Gold Medal, making her the first woman ever nationally recognized by the NFF in its 69-year history. Rice, who grew up in Alabama as the daughter of a high school football coach, rose to the highest levels of power as the first female African-American U.S. Secretary of State.
“One of the most influential people in global politics, Condoleezza Rice holds a unique place in our nation’s history,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “Coming from humble beginnings and experiencing segregation in Alabama during the 1960s, she has exhibited a drive and commitment to excellence throughout her life that has allowed her to amass a long list of impressive firsts, which is equaled by few, if any.
"She is a true patriot, and her love of our country naturally extends to the gridiron, never failing to watch a full slate of college football games on Saturday in the fall and now serving on the College Football Playoff Committee. It is with great pleasure that we bestow our highest honor on her in recognition of her many, many accomplishments.”
Born Nov. 14, 1954, Rice grew up in segregated Birmingham, Alabama, and she was just a few blocks away when the bomb went off at the 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963, killing four young girls including one of her playmates. Her father was a high school football coach and guidance counselor at an all-black public school, and her mother was a teacher and church organist.
Her father instilled a love of football in her, and they would religiously watch the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturdays and the Cleveland Browns on Sundays. Her mother instilled a love of music in her, and she excelled at playing the piano, figure skating and as top student in the classroom. She graduated high school when she was 15 years old after the family moved to Denver, Colo.
“Condoleezza Rice has clearly led a remarkable life,” said NFF Chairman Archie Manning. “I had the privilege of serving with her on the College Football Playoff Committee last year, and she is clearly an individual of the highest integrity and intellect. She holds a unique understanding of the most significant global issues as well as America’s passion for football on Saturdays. I want to commend the NFF Awards Committee and its chairman Jack Ford for selecting Secretary Rice for our highest honor this year. We are proud to add her name to the esteemed list of past NFF Gold Medal recipients.”
Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and a Senior Fellow on Public Policy. She is the Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In addition, she is a founding partner of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, an international strategic consulting firm.
From January 2005 to January 2009, Rice served as the 66th Secretary of State of the United States, the second woman and first black woman to hold the post. Rice also served as President George W. Bush’s Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (National Security Advisor) from January 2001 to January 2005, the first woman to hold the position.
Rice served as Stanford University’s provost from 1993 to 1999, during which time she was the institution’s chief budget and academic officer. As Professor of Political Science, she has been on the Stanford faculty since 1981 and has won two of the university’s highest teaching honors.
From February 1989 through March 1991, Rice served on President George H.W. Bush’s National Security Council staff. She served as Director, then Senior Director, of Soviet and East European Affairs, as well as Special Assistant to the President for National Security. In 1986, while an International Affairs Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, Rice also served as Special Assistant to the Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
She has authored and co-authored numerous books, most recently To Build a Better World: Choices to End the Cold War and Create a Global Commonwealth (2019), co-authored with Philip Zelikow. Among her other volumes are three bestsellers, Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom (2017); No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington (2011); and Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family (2010). She also wrote Political Risk: How Businesses and Organizations Can Anticipate Global Insecurity (2018) with Amy B. Zegart; Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: A Study in Statecraft (1995) with Philip Zelikow; edited The Gorbachev Era (1986) with Alexander Dallin; and penned The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army; 1948-1983: Uncertain Allegiance (1984).
In 1991, Rice co-founded the Center for a New Generation (CNG), an innovative, after-school academic enrichment program for students in East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park, California. In 1996, CNG merged with the Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula, an affiliate club of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BCGA). CNG has since expanded to local BGCA chapters in Birmingham, Atlanta, and Dallas. Rice remains an active proponent of an extended learning day through after-school programs.
Since 2009, Rice has served as a founding partner at Rice, Hadley, Gates, & Manuel LLC, an international strategic consulting firm based in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. The firm works with senior executives of major companies to implement strategic plans and expand in emerging markets. Other partners include former National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley, former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, and former diplomat, author, and advisor on emerging markets, Anja Manuel.
In 2022, Rice became a part-owner of the Denver Broncos as a part of the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group. In 2013, Rice was appointed to the College Football Playoff Selection Committee, formerly the Bowl Championship Series. She served on the committee until 2017.
Rice currently serves on the boards of C3.ai, an AI software company; and Makena Capital Management, a private endowment firm. In addition, she is Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and a trustee of the Aspen Institute. Previously, Rice served on various boards, including Dropbox; the George W. Bush Institute; the Commonwealth Club; KiOR, Inc.; the Chevron Corporation; the Charles Schwab Corporation; the Transamerica Corporation; the Hewlett-Packard Company; the University of Notre Dame; the Foundation of Excellence in Education; the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; and the San Francisco Symphony.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Rice earned her bachelor’s degree in political science, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver; her master’s in the same subject from the University of Notre Dame; and her Ph.D., likewise in political science, from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver.
Rice is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded over fifteen honorary doctorates.
