The Biden-Harris team continues to roll out the names of new White House senior staff members, announcing the second round of key positions to be filled on Friday.
Mala Adiga, who served as senior advisor to Dr. Jill Biden and a senior policy advisor on the Biden-Harris Campaign, will serve as Policy Director to Dr. Jill Biden.
Previously, Adiga was Director for Higher Education and Military Families at the Biden Foundation. During the Obama-Biden administration, Adiga served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Academic Programs at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, in the Secretary of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues as Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the Ambassador-at-Large, and as Director for Human Rights on the National Security Staff.
Carlos Elizondo, who was a Special Assistant to the President and Social Secretary to Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden for all eight years of the Obama-Biden administration, will serve the incoming Biden-Harris Administration as White House Social Secretary.
In his previous role, Elizondo had responsibility for planning, managing, and successfully executing all events hosted by the Vice President and his family, to include visits by world leaders, members of Congress, business leaders, and other high-ranking dignitaries and celebrities.
Cathy Russell, who serves on the Advisory Board of the Biden-Harris Transition Team and served as Vice Chair of the Biden-Harris Campaign, will serve as Director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. During the Obama-Biden administration, Russell served for all eight years at the White House and the U.S. Department of State, including as Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden and the U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, where she led efforts to integrate women’s issues into US foreign policy.
Louisa Terrell, who currently oversees legislative affairs for the Biden-Harris Transition Team, will serve as Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. Terrell previous served as Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs in the Obama-Biden administration. Prior to that, she served as an Advisor to Tom Wheeler, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and worked for several years on Capitol Hill, including as Deputy Chief of Staff for then-U.S. Senator Biden and Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator Cory Booker.
Biden announced the first round of new White House senior staffers earlier this week, including longtime aide Ron Klain as chief of staff, and his campaign manager, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, as deputy chief of staff. Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) will serve as Senior Advisor to the President and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. As ESSENCE previously reported, Richmond is the first—and only, thus far—American American official named by the incoming Biden-Harris Administration for a West Wing post.
To learn more about each new staff White House senior staffer, visit BuildBackBetter.com.