Carol Browner headed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Clinton administration. She served from 1993 until 2001, making her the longest-serving director the agency had ever had.

Browner was born in Florida on December 17, 1955. Her father taught English and her mother social science at Miami Dade Community College. Browner grew up hiking in the Everglades, where her lifelong love for the natural world began. She was educated at the University of Florida in Gainesville, receiving both a BA in English and her law degree there. Her political career began in 1980 as an aide in the Florida House of Representatives. Browner moved to Washington, D.C. a few years later to join the national office of Citizen Action, a grassroots organization that lobbies for a variety of issues, including the...