George Ervin "Sonny" Perdue III (born December 20, 1946) is an American politician. He was the 31st United States Secretary of Agriculture from April 25, 2017 to January 20, 2021. He was the 81st Governor of Georgia from 2003 to 2011. In January 2003, he became the first Republican Governor of Georgia since Reconstruction. Perdue served on the Governors’ Council of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C..
On January 18, 2017, incoming U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Perdue to be United States Secretary of Agriculture. His nomination was sent to the Senate on March 9, 2017. He was approved by the United States senate with a vote of 87-11 on April 24, 2017. He left office on January 20, 2021 when Joe Biden became president. In April 2022, he became the 14th Chancellor of the University System of Georgia.