Full Biography for Michela Alioto

Candidate for
Secretary of State

Biography of Michela Alioto

Before running for Congress in 1996, Michela Alioto spent two and a half years working in the White House for Vice President Al Gore. As a member of his domestic policy team, Michela conducted daily domestic policy briefings for the Vice President on issues such as telecommunications reform, the environment, education and crime. In addition, Michela prepared the Vice President's weekly telecommunications updates.

Prior to working for the Vice President, Michela was a White House transition liaison for the Department of Health and Human Services, writing briefing materials for Donna Shalala. During the Clinton-Gore campaign in 1992, Michela was responsible for nationwide outreach and policy development as the campaign's Disability Constituency Coordinator in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Michela was involved in a ski lift accident in 1981 that left her unable to walk, and has been strongly involved in disability issues since that time. In 1984, at the age of 17, Michela became the youngest person appointed to President Reagan,s National Council on Disabilities Advisory Board. Michela has been a delegate to the United States-Japan summit conferences on disabilities, where she chaired the committee on Science and Technology.

Michela graduated from Convent of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco, and received a degree in Anthropology from the University of California at Los Angeles. She also spent a year studying at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan.

Michela is a member of the National Women's Political Caucus, the Women's Leadership Forum, and the Majority Council of EMILY's List.

Michela has received numerous awards and honors, including seconding the nomination of Vice President Al Gore at the Democratic national convention in August of 1996. She has been named one of the top 21 up-and-coming women leaders in the country by Ms. Magazine, she is a Henry Crowne Fellow with the Aspen Institute, and she was a delegate to the Lifetime Summit on Women in 1997. Michela has been profiled in nationwide magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Time, and People. She was named one of "the ten people expected to have the greatest impact on the Bay Area in the early part of the 21st century" by the San Francisco Examiner.

Michela comes from a political family. Her grandfather, Joe Alioto, was the Mayor of San Francisco from 1968-1976 and was a gubernatorial candidate; her aunt Angela Alioto was a San Francisco Supervisor from 1988-1996.

Michela lives in St. Helena in the Napa Valley, where she is a partner in a wine business. She coaches Special Olympics softball in neighboring Solano County.