For Immediate Release
January 11, 2012

Media Contact:
Kara Tershel, (202) 662-9037

Jacob Lew

WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Barack Obama has named Jacob (Jack) Lew, L’83, the new White House Chief of Staff. Lew had been serving as the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

"Over the past year [Lew] has helped strengthen our economy and streamline the government at a time when we need to do everything we can to keep our recovery going," Obama said while announcing the appointment. "Jack’s economic advice has been invaluable and he has my complete trust."

"On behalf of everyone at Georgetown Law, I extend my warmest congratulations to Jack Lew," said Georgetown Law Dean William M. Treanor. "His long and distinguished career reflects our commitment to preparing Law Center graduates for service to the nation and the world."

Lew is the third Georgetown Law alumnus to serve as chief of staff. Jim Jones, L’64, former Democratic congressman from Oklahoma and former U.S. ambassador to Mexico during the Clinton administration, was chief of staff to President Lyndon Johnson from 1965 to 1969. More recently, Distinguished Visitor from Practice John Podesta, L’76, served as chief of staff to President Bill Clinton from 1998 to 2001.

Lew has another Georgetown Law connection. His first successor as OMB director, Mitch Daniels, L’79, served in this role during President George W. Bush’s administration and is currently the governor of Indiana.

Admired by both parties for his budgetary prowess, insider knowledge of the executive branch and ability to work with those on both sides of the aisle, Lew began his career in Washington in the 1970s. As a principal domestic policy adviser to Speaker of the House Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr., he served as assistant director and later executive director of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.

Lew was special assistant to Clinton in 1993 and 1994, when he left the White House to join OMB. He served as executive associate director, associate director for legislative affairs and deputy director before Clinton nominated him OMB director in 1998. He served in this capacity through the remainder of Clinton’s second term. Obama would later nominate Lew to this position again in 2010. Before returning to OMB, Lew was the chief operating officer at the State Department while serving as the first deputy secretary of state for management and resources.

"If there was a Hall of Fame for budget directors," Obama said during the announcement, "then Jack Lew surely would have earned a place for his service in that role under President Clinton, when he helped balance the federal budget after years of deficits."

About Georgetown University Law Center

Georgetown University Law Center, one of the world’s premier law schools, is pre-eminent in several areas, including constitutional, international, tax and clinical law. The full-time faculty is among the largest in the nation. Drawing on its Jesuit heritage, it has a strong tradition of public service and is dedicated to the principle that law is but a means, justice is the end. With this principle in mind, Georgetown Law has built an environment that cultivates an exchange of ideas and the pursuit of academic excellence. It brings together an extraordinarily varied group of teachers, scholars and practitioners, as well as an outstanding student body representing more than 60 countries.