Biden picks Psaki as press secretary
Greenwich High grad was previously Obama’s communications director
A Connecticut native is President-Elect Joe Biden’s pick for the position of White House press secretary.
Stamford native Jen Psaki will fill the role when Biden takes office in January, Biden announced Sunday.
Psaki will join a seven-member, all-female senior communications team, which the president-elect puts together as he prepares for his first term. It is the first time all the officials overseeing an administration’s communications strategy will be women.
Psaki previously served in the administration of President Barack Obama, where she worked as deputy press secretary and deputy communications director during his first term.
In 2011, she left the White House to join the Washington office of Global Strategy Group, a New York-based public affairs firm, where she held the titles of senior vice president and managing director.
In 2015, Psaki rejoined the administration as White House communications director.
“I fully trust Jen — and I am thrilled she’s agreed to come back to the White House as communications director,” the president said in a statement at the time.
Biden selected Kate Bedingfield, a longtime aide and his campaign communications director, to fill the same role in his administration.
The president-elect will also nominate Neera Tanden, president
of the Center for American Progress, to be director of the Office of Management and Budget. Tanden would be the first woman of color to hold the position.
Psaki, a 1996 Greenwich High School graduate, worked on both Obama presidential campaigns and became press spokeswoman for Secretary of State John Kerry in the second term.
In high school, Psaki was captain of the swim team. She also swam at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and sociology.
Psaki is the eldest of three daughters of Jim Psaki, of Greenwich, and Eileen Medvey, of Stamford.
According to her Linkedin profile, Psaki most recently worked at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as vice president for communications and strategy.