Thomas Edward Perez (born October 7, 1961) is an American politician and attorney who has been the Chair of the Democratic National Committee since February 2017. Perez was previously Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights (2009–2013) and United States Secretary of Labor (2013–2017).
Born in Buffalo, New York, Perez is a graduate of Brown University, Harvard Law School, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He clerked for Judge Zita Weinshienk in Colorado prior to serving as a federal civil rights prosecutor for the Department of Justice. He next worked for Senator Ted Kennedy and then served as the Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services in the final years of the Clinton administration.
Perez was then elected to the Montgomery County (Maryland) Council in 2002, serving as the council's president from 2005, until the end of his tenure in 2006. He attempted to run for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General of Maryland, but was disqualified for not having sufficient time as a member of the Maryland state bar. Perez was appointed by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley to serve as Secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation in January 2007, until his October 2009 confirmation by the United States Senate as Assistant Attorney General. In 2013, Perez was nominated by President Barack Obama to be the United States Secretary of Labor, replacing outgoing Secretary Hilda Solis.