Jen Psaki

Jen Psaki
White House Director of Communications
In office
April 1, 2015 – January 20, 2017
President Barack Obama
Preceded by Jennifer Palmieri
Succeeded by Sean Spicer
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
Education College of William & Mary (BA)

Jennifer Rene Psaki (/sɑːkiː/; born December 1,[1] 1978[2]) is the former White House Communications Director. She previously served as a spokesperson for the United States Department of State and in various press and communications roles in the Obama White House.[3] She is a contributor on CNN.

Early life

Psaki is of Greek[4] and Polish[5] ancestry. She was born in Stamford, Connecticut, and graduated from Greenwich High School in 1996 and the College of William & Mary in 2000. She is a member of the Chi Omega sorority.[6] At William & Mary, Psaki was a backstroke swimmer for the William & Mary Tribe athletic team for two years.[6][7]

Career

Psaki began her career in 2001 with the re-election campaigns of Iowa Democrats Tom Harkin for the U.S. Senate and Tom Vilsack for Governor. 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 (D-NY) and regional press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.[8]

Psaki with Russian counterpart Maria Zakharova, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Paris, 13 January 2014

Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Barack Obama, Psaki served as traveling press secretary.[8] 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.[9][10] On September 22, 2011, Psaki left this position to become senior vice president and managing director at the Washington, D.C., office of public relations firm Global Strategy Group.[11][12]

In 2012, Psaki returned to political communications as press secretary for President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.[13] On February 11, 2013, Psaki became spokesperson for the United States Department of State.[13] 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,[14] but, on May 30, 2014, it was announced that Josh Earnest would replace Carney. In 2015, she returned to the White House as communications director and stayed through the end of the Obama administration.

On February 7, 2017, Psaki began working as a political commentator on CNN.[2]

Personal life

In 2010, Psaki married Gregory Mecher, a deputy finance director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Allen, Mike (December 1, 2013). "Welcome to December! -- The sentence in today's NYT that will make a few people with .gov addresses cringe -- What Obama Bought at Politics and Prose". Politico.
  2. 1 2 Concha, Joe (February 8, 2017). "Jen Psaki joins CNN". The Hill. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Jen Psaki returns to White House". Politico. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
  4. ↑ "The Greek associate of Barack Obama - ellines.com".
  5. ↑ "Topics - Bio, News, Photos - Washington Times".
  6. 1 2 Sawicki, Stephen (February 2011). "Meeting the Press". Greenwich Magazine. Archived from the original on August 30, 2013. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Women's swimming and diving roster". College of William & Mary. Archived from the original on June 16, 1997.
  8. 1 2 "Jennifer Psaki". Center for Responsive Politics. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Jen Psaki". WhoRunsGov. WashingtonPost.com. July 23, 2012. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
  10. ↑ 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.
  11. ↑ Calmes, Jackie (September 20, 2011). "White House Deputy Communications Director Steps Down". The Caucus. NYTimes.com. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
  12. ↑ Lewis, Charles J. (September 22, 2011). "Greenwich High alum resigns White House job". Greenwich Time. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
  13. 1 2 "Jen Psaki, Department Spokesperson". US Department of State. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
  14. ↑ 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 June 14, 2013.
  15. ↑ McCarthy, Ellen (16 May 2010). "OnLove Wedding: Jen Psaki and Gregory Mecher get married in Maryland". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
Political offices
Preceded by
Victoria Nuland		 Spokesperson for the United States Department of State
2013–2015		 Succeeded by
John Kirby
Preceded by
Jennifer Palmieri		 White House Director of Communications
2015–2017		 Succeeded by
Sean Spicer
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