From Stamford to the White House
CT native Psaki returning to D.C. for a second stint
WASHINGTON — Jim Psaki was surprised when he learned of his daughter’s appointment as White House press secretary. Proud as he was, he did not expect her to leave the private sector and return to government.
When Jen Psaki first heard from Joe Biden’s team in August about a possible job, she was ambivalent, her father said.
“When I asked her if she would take a job, she said she didn’t think so,” said Jim Psaki, a former Greenwich resident who has lived in Colorado since 2010. “She’s got two small children, which are a lot of responsibility. She’s got a nice consulting business. ... I kept saying maybe there’s going to be pressure for a senior position job. She said, ‘Maybe there will be, but I’ll have to evaluate it.’ I did not really expect that she would accept a job.”
“I think she’s going to play a significant and important role in resetting what should be getting us back to the norms of American politics and democracy.” Jefrey Pollock, president of Global Strategy Group, who’s known Psaki for years
Biden, who defeated President Donald Trump, announced Sunday that Psaki would lead a sevenmember, all-female senior communications staff in his administration. It is the first time a president’s senior communications staff will be comprised solely of women.
A Greenwich High School graduate, Psaki, 41, has decades of experience managing press responsibilities for Democrats and deep ties with the Obama administration and its alumni. She was President Barack Obama’s White House communications director, and he reportedly had considered her for the top job of White House press secretary, too.
Psaki currently oversees the confirmations team for the Biden-Harris transition, a group tasked with ensuring many of her former Obama-era colleagues will gain Senate approval for new roles.
She tweeted Sunday that she is “honored” to work for Biden again, “a man I worked on behalf of during the Obama-Biden Admin as he helped lead economic recovery, rebuilt our relationships with partners (turns out good practice) and injected empathy and
humanity into nearly every meeting I sat in.”
Her list of previous bosses includes a governor, members of Congress, a secretary of state, president and private sector executives. Like many of Biden’s White House staff and cabinet picks, she is an experienced candidate from the stable of establishment Democrats.
When she takes the podium, Psaki is expected to improve relations with the press corps, whom Trump has repeatedly denigrated as “the enemy of the people.”
“Jen has those relationships already,” said Jefrey Pollock, president of Global Strategy Group, who’s known Psaki for years. “I think she’s going to play a significant and important role in resetting what should be getting us back to the norms of American politics and democracy.”
Connecticut roots
Psaki grew up between Stamford and Greenwich. According to her father, she attended the Early Learning Center, a Stamford Montessori school now known as the Children’s School, then Sacred Heart Greenwich and Greenwich Country Day School for elementary and middle school, whose alumni include former President George H.W. Bush and Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin.
“Our school has some pretty impressive alums in our past,” said Head of School Adam Rohdie. “So it’s been fun to see Greenwich Country Day alums as they’ve gone on to do amazing things, many in public service... We’re super proud of her and we look forward to her doing great things in the Biden administration.”
Like Trump’s former White House communications director and now senior advisor Hope Hicks, Psaki is also a Greenwich House School graduate. Hicks graduated in 2006 and was co-captain of her all-championship winning lacrosse team. Psaki got her diploma in 1996 as an all-state swimmer.
Following her graduation from high school, Psaki matriculated to the College of William & Mary, in Virginia, where she majored in English, swam competitively for two years and became president of the school’s Chi Omega sorority.
U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fl., counted Psaki as a college friend and they remained close during their careers.
“During our college years, I saw Jen for what she was: a natural born leader with a passion for public service,” Murphy said. “Jen was always deter
mined and unflappable in the face of adversity. She approached every challenge with humility and a sense of humor. Those are two important skills to have in the kind of highprofile job she’s about to take on, and I have the utmost confidence she is not only the right person for the job, but also the best one.”
While not a political position, per se, taking the helm of the sorority was characteristic of the young Psaki, her father said.
“She’s fearless,” Jim Psaki said. “She absolutely will attempt anything. Some kids are apprehensive about doing things, but she never was.”
An Obamaland resume
Psaki decided to pursue a career in politics after graduating, diving into the roiling waters of Washington politics and working on campaign communications for Democrats.
She landed in Iowa, where she worked on the successful re-election bids of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin. She also served as former Rep. Joseph Crowley’s communications director and handled press for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Her first presidential campaign was working for then-U.S. Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 bid. Former President Barack Obama tapped her for her traveling press secretary for his 2008 and 2012 campaigns after passing her over for his own White House press secretary, according to Politico.
“Jen is known for her wit, good humor, level headedness, ability to build great relationships and gravitas achieved at a young age,” said Ben LaBolt, partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive, who worked with Psaki on Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns and in the White House. “Nobody has been better trained or is more deserving of the podium. Jen will be a voice of reason for all Americans and a powerful advocate for President Biden’s agenda.”
After Obama’s campaigns, she followed him into the administration, working as Obama’s deputy White House press secretary and deputy communications director. Then, she reunited with Kerry at the State Department, where he was secretary of State, advising him on communications strategy for two years. She headed back to the White House where she was communications director from April 2015 through the end of Obama’s second term.
Psaki has dabbled in private sector consulting before campaigns and administrations have lured her back. For nine months in 2011 and 2012, she served as senior vice president and managing director for Global Strategy Group at the New York polling and communications firm’s D.C. office. Pollack recalled her diplomatic approach to dealing with a client’s “terrible idea.”
“She is also incredibly earnest and honest so that makes her ideal for communicating to the American public and the White House press corps because she is someone who can keep that cool head, transmit information in a way that is concise and deliver a message,” Pollack said. “At this current time, when we’re dealing with the level of crisis that this pandemic is reaching, to me, Jen is like to the perfect person to stand there at that podium.”
When Trump took office, Psaki joined the the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and served as a CNN contributor.
She also worked at WestExec Advisors, a business consulting firm, side by side with other former Obama staff – and other future Biden employees. The company was founded in 2017 by Tony Blinken, Biden’s nominee for secretary of State, and Michèle Flournoy, a contender for Biden’s for secretary of Defense. One of WestExec Advisors former principals, Avril Haines, is Biden’s pick for director of national intelligence.
‘Light at the end of the tunnel’
In addition to his surprise of his daughter returning to politics, Jim Psaki was also caught off guard by the response to the announcement, which he said has garnered more buzz than her previous appointments.
The excitement stemmed from the all-female communications team, Jim Psaki said, but also the political moment at which Psaki would lead it.
“I think everybody’s exhausted from the alternate facts and lies that have come out of the White House,” Psaki said. “And people are saying there might be some light at the end of the tunnel.”
The Biden transition did not respond to an interview request for Psaki on Monday.