Jen Psaki

Jen Psaki

White House Communications Director
Incumbent
Assumed office April 1, 2015
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Jennifer Palmieri
Spokesperson for the United States Department of State
In office February 11, 2013 – March 31, 2015
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	Marie Harf
Preceded by	Victoria Nuland
Succeeded by	John Kirby
White House Deputy Communications Director
In office December 19, 2009 – September 22, 2011
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Dan Pfeiffer
Succeeded by	Jennifer Palmieri
White House Deputy Press Secretary
In office January 20, 2009 – December 19, 2009
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Tony Fratto
Succeeded by	Bill Burton
Personal details
Born	Jennifer Rene Psaki (1978-12-01) December 1, 1978 Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	College of William and Mary

Jennifer Rene "Jen" Psaki (pronounced /sɑːkiː/; born December 1, 1978)^[1] is the current White House Communications Director. She previously served as a spokesperson for the United States Department of State, and has served in various press and communications roles in the Obama White House.^[2]

Early life

Psaki, of Greek^[3] and Polish^[4] ancestry, was born in Stamford, Connecticut. She graduated from Greenwich High School in 1996 and the College of William & Mary in 2000. She is a member of the Chi Omega sorority.^[5] At William & Mary, Psaki was a backstroke swimmer for the William & Mary Tribe athletic team for two years.^[5]^[6]

Career

Psaki began her career in 2001 with the re-election campaigns of Iowa Democrats Tom Harkin and Tom Vilsack. Psaki then became deputy press secretary for John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. From 2005 to 2006, Psaki served as communications director to U.S. Representative Joseph Crowley and regional press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.^[7]

Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Barack Obama, Psaki served as traveling press secretary.^[7] After Obama won the election, Psaki followed Obama to the White House as Deputy Press Secretary and was promoted to Deputy Communications Director on December 19, 2009.^[8]^[9] On September 22, 2011, Psaki left that position to become senior vice president and managing director at the Washington, D.C. office of public relations firm Global Strategy Group.^[10]^[11]

In 2012, Psaki returned to political communications as press secretary for President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.^[12] On February 11, 2013, Psaki became spokesperson for the United States Department of State.^[12] Her hiring at the Department of State fueled speculation that she would likely replace White House Press Secretary Jay Carney when he left the White House,^[13] but on May 30, 2014, it was announced that Josh Earnest would replace Carney.

Personal life

In 2010, Psaki married Gregory Mecher, a deputy finance director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.^[14]

References

↑
↑ "Jen Psaki returns to White House". Politico. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
↑ A Greek woman in the U.S State Department | ellines.com
↑ http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/jennifer-psaki/ "A native of Polish descent from Greenwich, Connecticut, Psaki..."
↑ 5.0 5.1 Sawicki, Stephen (February 2011). "Meeting the Press". Greenwich Magazine. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
↑ "Women's swimming and diving roster". College of William & Mary. Archived from the original on June 16, 1997.
↑ 7.0 7.1 "Jennifer Psaki". Center for Responsive Politics. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
↑ "Jen Psaki". WhoRunsGov (WashingtonPost.com). July 23, 2012. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
↑ Allen, Mike (December 19, 2009). "Jen Psaki named Deputy Communications Director -- Summit accepts Obama deal -- Health reform could effectively pass at 1 a.m. Monday -- Shannon Flaherty b’day". Mike Allen's Playbook. Politico.com. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
↑ Calmes, Jackie (September 20, 2011). "White House Deputy Communications Director Steps Down". The Caucus (NYTimes.com). Retrieved July 6, 2013.
↑ Lewis, Charles J. (September 22, 2011). "Greenwich High alum resigns White House job". Greenwich Time. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
↑ 12.0 12.1 "Jen Psaki, Department Spokesperson". US Department of State. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
↑ Rogin, Josh (15 February 2013). "What Jen Psaki faces as the new State Department spokeswoman". The Cable. FP Group, a division of the Washington Post Company. Archived from the original on July 6, 2013.
↑ McCarthy, Ellen (16 May 2010). "OnLove Wedding: Jen Psaki and Gregory Mecher get married in Maryland". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 July 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jennifer Psaki.

Jen Psaki on Twitter

Political offices
Preceded by Jennifer Palmieri	White House Director of Communications Designate 2015–present	Incumbent

Barack Obama's Executive Office of the President

Office	Name	Term	Office	Name	Term
White House Chief of Staff White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy	Rahm Emanuel Pete Rouse William M. Daley Jack Lew Denis R. McDonough Mona Sutphen Nancy-Ann DeParle Rob Nabors	2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013– 2009–11 2011–13 2013–15	National Security Advisor Deputy National Security Advisor Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan	Jim Jones Thomas E. Donilon Susan Rice Thomas E. Donilon Denis McDonough Tony Blinken Avril Haines Douglas Lute^†	2009–10 2010–13 2013– 2009–10 2010–13 2013–14 2015– 2009–13
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations	Jim Messina Alyssa Mastromonaco Anita Decker Breckenridge	2009–11 2011–14 2014–	Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security	Ben Rhodes John O. Brennan Lisa Monaco	2009– 2009–13 2013–
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning	Mark B. Childress Kristie Canegallo	2012–14 2014–	Deputy National Security Advisor and NSC Chief of Staff	Denis McDonough Brooke Anderson	2009–10 2011–12
Senior Advisor to the President	David Axelrod David Plouffe Daniel Pfeiffer	2009–11 2011–13 2013–15	White House Communications Director	Daniel Pfeiffer Jennifer Palmieri Jen Psaki	2009–13 2013–15 2015–
Senior Advisor to the President Counselor to the President	Pete Rouse Brian Deese Pete Rouse John Podesta	2009–10 2015– 2011–13 2014–15	Deputy White House Communications Director	Jen Psaki Jennifer Palmieri Amy Brundage	2009–11 2011–14 2014–
Senior Advisor to the President and Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs Director of Public Engagement Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Director, National Economic Council	Valerie Jarrett Christina Tchen Jon Carson Paulette Aniskoff Cecilia Muñoz David Agnew Jerry Abramson Lawrence Summers Gene Sperling Jeffrey Zients	2009– 2009–11 2011–13 2013– 2009–12 2012–14 2014– 2009–10 2011–14 2014–	White House Press Secretary Deputy Press Secretary Director of Special Projects Director of Speechwriting White House Counsel	Robert Gibbs Jay Carney Josh Earnest Bill Burton Josh Earnest Eric Schultz Stephanie Cutter Jon Favreau Cody Keenan Greg Craig Robert Bauer Kathryn Ruemmler W. Neil Eggleston	2009–11 2011–13 2013– 2009–11 2011–13 2014– 2010–11 2009–13 2013– 2009–10 2010–11 2011–14 2014–
Deputy Director, National Economic Council Deputy Director, National Economic Council Chair of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board	Diana Farrell Brian Deese Jason Furman Paul Volcker	2009–11 2011–13 2009–13 2009–11	Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs	Phil Schiliro Rob Nabors Miguel Rodriguez Katie Beirne Fallon	2009–11 2011–13 2013 2013–
Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors	Christina Romer Austan Goolsbee Jason Furman	2009–10 2010–13 2013–	Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs	Lisa Konwinski Amy Rosenbaum	2009– 2014–
Member of the Council of Economic Advisors	Katharine Abraham	2011–	Executive Clerk	George T. Saunders^† David Kalbaugh	2009–12 2012–
Member of the Council of Economic Advisors	Cecilia Rouse	2009–	Director, Office of Political Affairs	Patrick Gaspard David Simas	2009–11 2013–
Director, Office of Management and Budget	Peter R. Orszag Jack Lew Jeffrey Zients Sylvia Mathews Burwell Brian Deese Shaun Donovan	2009–10 2010–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014 2014–	Chief Technology Officer Chief Information Officer	Aneesh Chopra Todd Park Megan Smith Vivek Kundra Steven VanRoekel Tony Scott	2009–12 2012–14 2014– 2009–11 2011–14 2015–
Chief Performance Officer and Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget	Jeffrey Zients	2009–13	Director, Office of Presidential Personnel	Nancy Hogan Johnathan McBride	2010–14 2014–
Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget	Jeffrey Liebman Heather Higginbottom Brian Deese	2010 2011–13 2013–15	Director of Scheduling and Advance Director, White House Military Office	Alyssa Mastromonaco Danielle White Crutchfield George D. Mulligan, Jr. Emmett Beliveau	2009–11 2011– 2009–13 2013–
United States Trade Representative	Ron Kirk Michael Froman	2009–13 2013–	Cabinet Secretary	Chris Lu Broderick Johnson	2009–13 2013–
Director, Domestic Policy Council	Melody Barnes Cecilia Muñoz	2009–12 2012–	Deputy Cabinet Secretary	Liz Sears Smith Rachana Bhowmik Michael Robertson	2009–11 2011–13 2013–
Deputy Director, Domestic Policy Council	Heather Higginbottom Mark Zuckerman	2009–11 2011–	Staff Secretary	Lisa Brown Rajesh De Douglas Kramer Joani Walsh	2009–11 2011–12 2012–13 2014–
Director, Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships	Joshua DuBois Melissa Rogers	2009–2013 2013–	Assistant to the President for Management and Administration	Bradley Kiley Katy Kale	2009–13 2013–
Director, Office of Health Reform	Nancy-Ann DeParle	2009–11	Director, Oval Office Operations	Micaela Fernandez Brian Mosteller	2009–12 2012–
Deputy Director, Office of Health Reform	Jeanne Lambrew	2009–	Personal Aide to the President	Reggie Love Marvin Nicholson	2009–11 2011–
Director, Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy	Carol Browner	2009–11	Personal Secretary to the President	Katie Johnson Anita Decker Breckenridge Ferial Govashiri	2009–11 2011–14 2014–
Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change	Heather Zichal Dan Utech	2009–2013 2013–	Special Projects Coordinator and Confidential Assistant to the President	Eugene Kang	2009–11
Director, Council on Environmental Quality	Nancy Sutley Michael Boots	2009–2014 2014–	Director, Office of National AIDS Policy	Jeffrey Crowley Grant Cofax Douglas Brooks	2009–2011 2012–2014 2014–
Chief of Staff to the First Lady	Jackie Norris Susan Sher Christina Tchen	2009 2009–10 2011–	Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy	Gil Kerlikowske Michael Botticelli	2009–14 2014–
White House Social Secretary	Desirée Rogers Julianna Smoot Jeremy Bernard	2009–10 2010–11 2011–	Director, Office of Urban Affairs	Adolfo Carrión, Jr. Racquel Russell	2009–2010 2010–
Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy	John Holdren	2009–

^*Senate-confirmation pending. †Remained from previous administration (s).