Who is Biden’s new chief of staff, Jeff Zients?
President Joe Biden has nominated Jeff Zients as the next White House chief of staff. Zients formerly oversaw the administration’s coronavirus response.
Ron Klain, the current chief of staff, will step down after the State of the Union address on February 7th.
The position is regarded as one of the most powerful in the US government.
“I committed to generating government work for Americans. Jeff acts in just that way.” Mr. Biden said in a statement.
The White House will host an official transition event in the following days.
Mr. Zients’ return to the White House comes at a critical time for the US president, as his staff begins to plan for a possible re-election campaign in 2024.
President Biden is also the subject of a special counsel inquiry regarding handling confidential papers discovered in his private office and at his Delaware residence.
He originally joined the Biden administration when he was assigned to manage the Biden government’s reaction to the coronavirus pandemic, including vaccine distribution in 2021 – a monumental logistical public health operation.
Over two-thirds of Americans had received their first Covid-19 immunizations by the summer of 2021.
The White House was often chastise for its management of the pandemic, particularly the paucity of low-cost diagnostics during the omicron variant surge in 2021-22. However, when Mr. Zients exited the White House in April 2022, Mr. Biden praised him.
According to the president, Jeff “used his decades of management experience to establish and implement a strategy to build the infrastructure we required to deliver vaccines, diagnostics, treatment, and masks to hundreds of millions of Americans.” I will miss his advice, but I am grateful for his service.
His exit from the White House, however, was brief.
Mr. Zients returned in the autumn to assist the Biden administration as it entered the second part of its first term. One of the most significant changes would be Zients taking over as chief of staff.
Despite his brief tenure in government service, Mr. Zients’ career is vast.
He worked as a management consultant for most of his professional career. He chaired the Corporate Executive Board and oversaw the Advisory Board Group, which he eventually assisted in taking the public with a multimillion-dollar stock offering. Mr. Zients also launched Portfolio Logic, a healthcare and business-services-focused investment management organization.
During Barack Obama’s presidency, his first government role was as deputy director of the White House budget office and director of the National Economic Council, an administration advisory group. He also assisted the Obama administration in resolving issues with the Obamacare insurance exchange system’s deployment, particularly the chaotic debut of the program’s website.
On government disclosure records, Mr. Zients disclosed his net worth at roughly $90 million in March 2021, making him the wealthiest of Mr. Biden’s top-level appointments.
His ties to the corporate world, including a time on Facebook’s board of directors after leaving the Obama administration, have prompted some government watchdog groups to criticize him.
“Americans are disgust by healthcare profiteering – Jeff Zients has grown incredibly wealthy through healthcare profiteering,” stated Revolving Door Project Executive Director Jeff Hauser in a statement. “Americans are outrage by how social media corporations have created monopolies while violating privacy rules. Zients served on Facebook’s Board of Directors at a time when the company was under attack from both political parties.”
Mr. Zients also assisted the 2020 Biden presidential campaign with financial management and co-chaired the president-transition elect’s team, which encountered added challenges due to Donald Trump’s resistance to admitting loss.
To Washingtonians, though, the new chief of staff is also recognized for co-founding the regionally beloved bagel business Call Your Mother, which has multiple colorful locations throughout the city.