Topic: Ellen Tauscher

Ellen O'Kane Tauscher (born November 15, 1951) is an American politician and Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs. She was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing California's 10th congressional district from 1997 until her resignation in 2009.

Ellen Tauscher was born in Newark, New Jersey. Her parents were a secretary and a shop steward for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. The first member of her family to attend college, she graduated in 1974 from Seton Hall University, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in early childhood education.

She then worked as an investment banker with Bache & Co. and, at age 25, became a member of the New York Stock Exchange. She also served as an officer of the American Stock Exchange from 1979 to 1983, after which she worked for Bear Stearns and a subsidiary of Drexel Burnham Lambert.