The Powell Successor is Condoleezza RICE, who served as the 66th United States Secretary of State from 2005 to 2009. RICE was the first African American woman to hold the post and the second woman overall. She was also the first female National Security Advisor, serving in that role from 2001 to 2005. RICE was a professor of political science at Stanford University and a senior fellow on public policy at the Hoover Institution.