Senior Advisor to the President of the United States

"Senior Advisor to the President" redirects here. For the Sri Lankan office, see Senior Adviser to the President of Sri Lanka.

Senior Advisor to the President is a title used by high-ranking political advisors to the president of the United States. White House senior advisors are senior members of the White House Office. The title has been formally used since 1993.

Senior Advisor
Incumbent Top row: Annie Tomasini & John Podesta Middle row: Stephen K. Benjamin & Tom Perez Bottom row: Ben LaBolt & Karine Jean-Pierre
Executive Office of the President
Website	The White House

Responsibilities

Over time, a senior advisor has had responsibility for the following groups:

Current departments (headed by a senior advisor)

• White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations ^[a] (Annie Tomasini)
• Clean Energy Innovation & International Climate Policy Advisor (John Podesta)
• White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (Tom Perez)
• White House Office of Public Engagement (Stephen K. Benjamin)
• White House Office of Communications (Ben LaBolt)
• White House Office of Press Operations (Karine Jean-Pierre)

Past departments (previously headed by a senior advisor in the current administration)

• American Rescue Plan / COVID-19 Relief (Gene Sperling)
• White House Office of the Staff Secretary (Neera Tanden)
• Infrastructure Implementation Coordination (Mitch Landrieu)

Past departments (previously headed by a senior advisor in past administrations)

• White House Office of Strategic Initiatives
• Office of American Innovation
• White House Office of Political Affairs

Prior administrations

In prior administrations before 1993, the position of "senior advisor" was a title used for various other purposes. Numerous examples of the position also exist throughout the executive departments and in the branch's independent agencies. For example, the Food and Drug Administration includes a position with the title Senior Advisor for Science; the Department of the Interior has a position with the title Senior Advisor for Alaskan Affairs.

Examples of people who had the responsibilities and/or influence of a senior advisor without the title included Edward M. House (to Woodrow Wilson) and Louis Howe (to Franklin D. Roosevelt)

List of senior advisors to the president

Senior advisors to President Bill Clinton

Senior Advisor			Portfolio	Term of office	Party
		Rahm Emanuel (born 1959)	Political Affairs Strategic Planning Policy	January 20, 1993 – November 7, 1998[1]	Democratic
		George Stephanopoulos (born 1961)	Strategic Planning Policy	June 7, 1993 – December 10, 1996[2]	Democratic
		Sidney Blumenthal (born 1948)	Political Affairs Communications Policy	August 19, 1997 – January 20, 2001[3]	Democratic
		Doug Sosnik (born 1959)	Political Affairs Strategic Planning Policy	November 7, 1998 – January 20, 2001[4]	Democratic
		Joel Johnson (born 1961)	Communications Policy	May 20, 1999 – January 20, 2001[5]	Democratic

Senior advisors to President George W. Bush

Senior Advisor			Portfolio	Term of office	Party
		Karl Rove (born 1950)	Political Affairs Strategic Planning Communications	January 20, 2001 – August 31, 2007[6]	Republican
		Barry Steven Jackson (born 1960)	Political Affairs Strategic Planning Communications	September 1, 2007 – January 20, 2009[7]	Republican

Senior advisors to President Barack Obama

Senior Advisor			Portfolio	Term of office	Party
		Valerie Jarrett (born 1956)	Public Engagement Intergovernmental Affairs	January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017[8]	Democratic
		Pete Rouse (born 1946)	Strategic Planning	January 20, 2009 – October 1, 2010[9]	Democratic
		David Axelrod (born 1955)	Political Affairs Communications	January 20, 2009 – January 10, 2011[10]	Democratic
		David Plouffe (born 1967)	Political Affairs Communications	January 10, 2011 – January 25, 2013[11]	Democratic
		Daniel Pfeiffer (born 1975)	Political Affairs Communications	January 25, 2013 – March 6, 2015[12]	Democratic
		Brian Deese (born 1978)	Climate and Energy[13]	February 13, 2015 – January 20, 2017[14]	Democratic
		Shailagh Murray (born 1965)	Communications	April 3, 2015 – January 20, 2017[15]	Democratic

Senior advisors to President Donald Trump

First presidency

Senior Advisor			Portfolio	Term of office	Party
		Jared Kushner (born 1981)	Strategic Planning[16][17]	January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021[18]	Republican[19]
		Stephen Miller (born 1985)	Policy	January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021[20]	Republican
		Kevin Hassett (born 1962)	Economic Issues	April 15, 2020 – July 1, 2020[21]	Republican
		Eric Herschmann (born 1962)	Opposition research[22] Legal issues[23]	August 3, 2020 – January 20, 2021[24]	Republican

Senior advisors to President Joe Biden

Current
(listed in chronological order of start date)

Senior Advisor			Portfolio	Term of office	Party
		John Podesta (born 1949)	Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation and International Climate Policy Advisor (effective January 31, 2024)	September 2, 2022 – present[25]	Democratic
		Stephen K. Benjamin (born 1969)	Public Engagement[b]	April 1, 2023 – present[26]	Democratic
		Tom Perez (born 1961)	Intergovernmental Affairs[c]	June 12, 2023 – present[27]	Democratic
		Annie Tomasini	Deputy Chief of Staff[28]	June 2023 – present	Democratic
		Ben LaBolt (born 1981)	Communications[d]	August 8, 2024[29] – present	Democratic
		Karine Jean-Pierre (born 1974)	Press Secretary[e]	October 7, 2024 – present	Democratic

Former
(listed in chronological order of departure date)

Senior Advisor			Portfolio	Term of office	Party
		Cedric Richmond (born 1973)	Public Engagement[f]	January 20, 2021 – May 18, 2022[30]	Democratic
		Keisha Lance Bottoms (born 1970)	Public Engagement[g]	July 1, 2022 – March 31, 2023[31]	Democratic
		Julie Rodriguez (born 1978)	Intergovernmental Affairs[h]	June 15, 2022 – May 16, 2023[32]	Democratic
		Neera Tanden (born 1970)	Health care Policy[i] United States Digital Service	May 17, 2021 – May 26, 2023[33]	Democratic
		Mitch Landrieu (born 1960)	Infrastructure Implementation Coordination	November 15, 2021 – January 8, 2024[34]	Democratic
		Mike Donilon (born 1958)	Chief Strategist	January 20, 2021 – January 23, 2024[35]	Democratic
		Anita Dunn (born 1958)	Communications	1st: Jan. 20 – August 12, 2021[36] 2nd: May 5, 2022 – July 31, 2024[37][38]	Democratic
		Gene Sperling (born 1958)	COVID-19 Relief (American Rescue Plan)	March 15, 2021 – August 2024[39]	Democratic

List of advisors to the president

Advisor			Portfolio	Term of office	Party	President
		Stephanie Cutter[n 1] (born 1968)	Message and Communications	January 2011 – September 2011[40]	Democratic	Barack Obama
		Ivanka Trump[n 2] (born 1981)	Women's Issues Workforce Development Entrepreneurship	March 29, 2017 – January 20, 2021[44][45][46]	Republican[19]	Donald Trump

See also

• United States portal
• Politics portal

• Counselor to the President
• Senior advisor

Notes

1. Formerly Director of the Oval Office Operations
2. Concurrently serves as the Director of the Office of Public Engagement
3. Concurrently serves as the Director of the Intergovernmental Affairs Office
4. Concurrently serves as the White House Communications Director
5. Concurrently serves as the White House Press Secretary
6. Concurrently served as the Director of the Office of Public Engagement
7. Concurrently served as the Director of the Office of Public Engagement
8. Concurrently served as the Director of the Intergovernmental Affairs Office
9. Concurrently served as White House Staff Secretary

Explanatory footnotes

1. Stephanie Cutter held the official title of "Assistant to the President and Deputy Senior Advisor" during her time in office.
2. President Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump was sometimes called a 'Senior Advisor to the President' (or sometimes a 'senior advisor to the President', without the upper case 'S' and 'A') by unofficial sources,^[41][42] even though that was actually the title of her husband Jared Kushner, while her own title was 'Advisor to the President'.^[43]

References

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2. ABC News (September 18, 2014). "George's Biography". ABC News. Archived from the original on October 10, 2019.
3. Matthews, Dylan (June 16, 2015). "Why Donald Trump brought up Sidney Blumenthal at the second debate". Vox. Archived from the original on August 3, 2019.
4. Authorities, Leading. "Doug Sosnik".
5. "Joel Johnson - Glover Park Group".
6. Rove, Karl. "Bio".
7. "Barry S. Jackson - American Australian Council".
8. "Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett". whitehouse.gov. December 24, 2014 – via National Archives.
9. Shear, Michael D.; Zeleny, Jeff (October 1, 2010). "Emanuel's Departure Set; Replacement Is Longtime Aide". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 17, 2019.
10. Axelrod, David (February 10, 2015). "David Axelrod Recounts His Years As Obama's Adviser And 'Believer'". NPR. Archived from the original on August 28, 2017.
11. "David Plouffe". whitehouse.gov. August 17, 2011 – via National Archives.
12. Tau, Byron (December 10, 2015). "Former White House Adviser Dan Pfeiffer Joins GoFundMe". The Wall Street Journal blogs.
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14. "Brian Deese". whitehouse.gov. November 16, 2011 – via National Archives.
15. "Senior Advisor Shailagh Murray". whitehouse.gov. January 29, 2016 – via National Archives.
16. Trump, Donald J. (March 27, 2017). "Presidential Memorandum on The White House Office of American Innovation". whitehouse.gov (Press release) – via National Archives. The Senior Advisor to the President.
17. "Press Briefing by Press Secretary Sean Spicer, #29". whitehouse.gov. March 27, 2017 – via National Archives. The effort will be led by Assistant to the President and Senior Adviser Jared Kushner.
18. Wagner, John; Parker, Ashley (January 9, 2017). "Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to join White House as senior adviser; no formal role for Ivanka Trump". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 10, 2017.
19. Ockerman, Emma (April 12, 2019). "Jared Kushner wasn't a Republican until 2018". Vice News. Archived from the original on November 14, 2019.
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21. "President Donald J. Trump Announces Addition to White House Staff". whitehouse.gov – via National Archives.
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27. "Statement from President Joe Biden on Tom Perez". whitehouse.gov. June 12, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
28. Superville, Darlene (February 8, 2024). "Biden chooses longtime aide who runs his Oval Office to be a deputy White House chief of staff". Associated Press. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
29. Mike Allen (August 8, 2024). "Ben LaBolt, Biden communications director, promoted to senior adviser". Axios.
30. Glueck, Katie; Martin, Jonathan (November 18, 2020). "Representative Cedric Richmond Set to be a Senior Biden Adviser". The New York Times.
31. "President Biden Announces Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms as Senior Advisor for Public Engagement". June 15, 2022.
32. "President Biden Announces Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms as Senior Advisor for Public Engagement". June 15, 2022.
33. Mason, Jeff (May 14, 2021). "Biden appoints Neera Tanden, former pick for budget director, as senior adviser". Reuters.
34. "President Biden Announces Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu as Senior Advisor and Infrastructure Coordinator". November 14, 2021.
35. Shear, Michael D. (November 18, 2020). "Mike Donilon, Who Helped Draft Biden's Message, is Named a Senior Adviser". The New York Times.
36. "Anita Dunn to join Biden White House as senior adviser". January 15, 2021.
37. "President Biden Announces Karine Jean-Pierre as White House Press Secretary". May 5, 2022.
38. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/30/anita-dunn-biden-harris-2024/ ^{[bare URL]}
39. Tankersley, Jim (March 15, 2021). "Biden picks Gene Sperling, a Democratic policy aide, to oversee spending from the $1.9 trillion relief plan". The New York Times. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
40. "Stephanie Cutter - Former Assistant to the President and Deputy Senior Advisor". whitehouse.gov. January 11, 2011 – via National Archives.
41. Laura Beck (September 14, 2017). "Ivanka Trump, Senior Advisor to the President, Says It's "Unrealistic" to Expect Her to Influence Him". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved May 4, 2019. Ivanka Trump, senior advisor to the president, said that it's "unrealistic" to expect her to influence his decisions. That's not her job, OK?! (Even though it sort of is, actually?)
42. Catherine Lucey (February 26, 2018). "Ivanka Trump's dual roles as senior adviser, first daughter". AP news. Retrieved May 4, 2019. Ivanka Trump expects to be treated seriously as a senior White House adviser. ... "You're either a senior adviser or a daughter. ..." ... "Especially since she was last in the news as a senior adviser going to the Olympics." ... "she did choose to play this senior advisory role.")
43. "Press Briefing by Press Secretary Sarah Sanders". whitehouse.gov. December 18, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2019 – via National Archives. MS. SANDERS: ... the World Economic Forum ... delegation ... will also include ..., Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump, Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner, ...
44. "Executive Office Of The President Annual Report To Congress On White House Office Personnel White House Office As Of: Friday, June 30, 2017" (PDF). whitehouse.gov. p. 15. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2017 – via National Archives.
45. Merica, Dan; Borger, Gloria; Acosta, Jim; Klein, Betsy (March 30, 2017). "Ivanka Trump is making her White House job official". CNN. Archived from the original on March 8, 2019.
46. Lucey, Catherine (February 26, 2018). "Ivanka Trump's dual roles as senior adviser, first daughter". Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 14, 2018.