Vice President-elect Kamala Harris Announces Members of White House Senior Staff
WASHINGTON – Today, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris announced new members of her White House senior staff. These public servants reflect the very best of our nation, embody the president and vice-president-elect’s commitment to building a team that looks like America, and have the experience to hit the ground running on day one.
“Leading my office as Chief of Staff will be Tina Flournoy, whose deep experience, public policy expertise, and accomplished career in public service make her uniquely qualified for this important position. Tina brings a strong commitment to serving the American people, and her leadership will be critical as we work to overcome the unprecedented challenges facing our nation. Serving as my National Security Advisor will be Ambassador Nancy McEldowney, whose distinguished Foreign Service career and leadership abroad will be invaluable as we keep the American people safe and advance our country's interests around the world. And serving as my Domestic Policy Advisor will be Rohini Kosoglu, who is not only an expert on some of the most important issues facing the American people, but also one of my closest and most trusted aides from the Senate and presidential campaign,” said Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
She continued, “Together with the rest of my team, today’s appointees will work to get this virus under control, open our economy responsibly and make sure it lifts up all Americans, and restore and advance our country's leadership around the world.”
Biographies of the appointees are listed below in alphabetical order:
Hartina Flournoy, Chief of Staff to the Vice President
Tina Flournoy currently serves as Chief of Staff to former President Bill Clinton. Prior to joining President Clinton’s team, Flournoy was Assistant to the President for Public Policy at the American Federation of Teachers, an international union representing over 1.6 million members, where she directed the work of the legislative, political, field and mobilization, and human rights and community outreach departments. Flournoy has held a number of positions in the Democratic Party over the past three decades, including serving as the head of Governor Howard Dean’s Democratic National Committee transition team; traveling chief of staff to 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee, Senator Joseph Lieberman; Finance Director for the Gore 2000 Presidential Campaign; Deputy to the Campaign Manager in the 1992 Clinton-Gore Presidential Transition Office; and, in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel during the Clinton-Gore Administration. She also served as General Counsel for the 1992 Democratic National Convention and Counsel for the Democratic National Committee under Chairmen Paul Kirk and Ron Brown. After law school, Flournoy served as law clerk to the Honorable Julia Cooper Mack of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Originally from Georgia, Flournoy is a graduate of Georgetown University and Georgetown University Law Center.
Rohini Kosoglu, Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President
Rohini Kosoglu currently serves as Senior Advisor to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on the Biden-Harris Transition Team and previously served as Senior Advisor on the Biden-Harris Campaign. Before that, she was a Spring 2020 resident fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Kosoglu has a dedicated career in public service and was the first South Asian American woman to serve as Chief of Staff in the United States Senate. She served as Vice-President Elect Harris’ Chief of Staff for her Senate office and later for her presidential campaign. Before that, she was Policy Director for U.S. Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, where she oversaw economic, health care and budget issues. She has negotiated several bipartisan bills into law and served as a senior health care advisor during the drafting and passage of the Affordable Care Act. She also previously served as a legislative aide to U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. Originally from New Jersey, Kosoglu is a graduate of the University of Michigan and George Washington University and is a mother to three young children.
Nancy McEldowney, National Security Advisor to the Vice President
Ambassador Nancy McEldowney served for over 30 years in the U.S. Foreign Service, including as U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria and as Chargé d’Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission in Turkey and Azerbaijan. During her time at the Department of State, she served as Director of the Foreign Service Institute, where she led the foreign affairs training facility for the U.S. government, and also served as Interim President and Senior Vice President of the National Defense University. Earlier in her career, she was a leading policy advisor on Europe, including working for President Clinton as Director of European Affairs on the National Security Council staff, and as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, where she led the U.S. government’s engagement with NATO, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Ambassador McEldowney is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and is on advisory boards for Soldier Strong, Foreign Policy for America, National Security Action, and the US Diplomatic Studies Foundation. Most recently, Ambassador McEldowney served as a Distinguished Professor and Director of the Master of Science in Foreign Service program at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. Originally from Florida, Ambassador McEldowney is a graduate of New College of Florida, Columbia University and the National Defense University.
