Catherine Cortez Masto

Board Member at Smithsonian Institution

Catherine Cortez Masto is the first woman from Nevada and the first Latina ever elected to the U.S. Senate. Born and raised in Las Vegas, Cortez Masto has spent her career protecting Nevada families. From 2007 to 2015, Cortez Masto served two terms as Nevada's Attorney General, where she fought to protect seniors, strengthen laws to end sex trafficking and violence against women, combat drug crime, and take on the Big Banks. In the Senate, Cortez Masto has taken her fight for working Nevadans to Washington, D.C., by fighting to protect Nevadans’ access to health care; hold banks accountable when they harm hardworking families and homeowners; defend Dreamers so they can continue to live in the only country they’ve ever called home; and grow Nevada’s innovation and renewable energy economy, while also prioritizing workers and union families. She is a member of four U.S. Senate Committees: the Committee on Finance; the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; and the Committee on Indian Affairs. Cortez Masto currently serves as the Ranking Member of the Public Lands, Forests, and Mining Subcommittee of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Cortez Masto earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Finance from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1986, and a J.D. from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1990.