Social Security History

August 1, 1989 to September 30, 1992

Gwendolyn King was born in East Orange, New Jersey. She graduated from Howard University in 1962 with a bachelor's degree in French and Education, and from 1972 to 1974 did graduate work at George Washington University. Mrs. King was a French, English, and reading teacher from 1962 to 1971. She joined the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare in 1971 as a management intern, and by the time she left that organization in 1976 she had achieved the position of Senior Health Desk Officer. From 1976 to 1978 she was Director, Division of Consumer Complaints for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In 1978 she became Senior Legislative Assistant to Senator John Heinz. From 1979 to 1986 Mrs. King worked as Director of then Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh's Washington, D.C. office. From 1986 to 1988, she served in the White House as Deputy Assistant to President Reagan, and Director, Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. In 1988, Mrs. King joined Gogol & Associates, Inc. as its Executive Vice President, a position she held until 1989 when she was appointed Commissioner of the Social Security Administration. Mrs. King resigned as SSA Commissioner in 1992 to take a senior vice president position with the Philadelphia Electric Company.