Robert L. King

Robert L. King (born December 27, 1946) is an American higher education leader currently serving as president of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. Other notable positions include having served Monroe County, New York Executive and as Chancellor of the State University of New York. On July 11, 2019, He was confirmed by the United States Senate as Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education.King was born and raised in Brighton, Monroe County, New York and graduated from Brighton High School. He graduated from Trinity College (Connecticut) and earned a Juris Doctor at the Vanderbilt University School of Law.He began his career as a Deputy District Attorney in California. He returned to Rochester where he served as an Assistant District Attorney, as well as a Special Assistant United States Attorney working for the Organized Crime Strike Force, and ran unsuccessfully for Monroe County District Attorney against Howard M. Relin in 1983.He was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1987 to 1991, sitting in the 187th, 188th and 189th New York State Legislatures. It was there that he met fellow Assemblyman George Pataki, who greatly influenced his later career. In 1991, he unseated Thomas Frey to become Monroe County Executive. In 1995, King resigned his office to join then-Governor Pataki as director of the State Office of Regulatory Reform. He cited his proposals to reform welfare, his introduction of Total Quality Management to county offices, the development of Frontier Field, education reforms, and collaboration with the city as his proudest achievements and his inability to achieve privatization of government services as his biggest disappointment.In 1998, King became Pataki's budget director. In 1999, after a nearly year-long search, Pataki advanced King as a candidate to fill the shoes of John W. Ryan, the ailing Chancellor of the State University System, a move applauded by fiscal conservatives, but critic