Leezie Kim – 1989 Scholar

Leezie Kim proudly completed her term as a political appointee in the Obama Administration in July 2011. She had served as the Deputy General Counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, which has a legal department of over 1800 lawyers located around the world who serve and support the national security mission of the United States in the areas of immigration, air transportation security, border security and response to disasters both natural and manmade. She served in that role since the 2009, when she moved to Washington DC as part of the senior staff to then Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, who was selected by the President to be the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Previously, Leezie served as General Counsel to the Governor of Arizona and practiced law as a partner in the national firm Quarles & Brady LLP. She has recently returned to Arizona for family reasons. Leezie graduated from Rice University in 1993 along with her 1989 Presidential Scholar classmate and, serendipitously, freshman Rice University roommate Caren Chaika. Leezie earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia, where she met her husband, in 1996.