Jen Psaki has been named White House Press Secretary for the Biden administration.
The position: Speaks on behalf of the president with the media; provides briefings.
Jennifer Rene Psaki was born in Stamford, Connecticut in 1978 to James R. Psaki and Eileen D. Medvey. Her father is a retired real estate developer, while her mother is a psychotherapist.
Psaki graduated from Greenwich High School in 1996. In 2000, she graduated from the College of William & Mary with a degree in English. She is a member of the Chi Omega sorority. At William & Mary, Psaki was a competitive backstroke swimmer for the William & Mary Tribe athletic team for two years.
Psaki began her career in 2001 with the re-election campaigns of Iowa Democrats Tom Harkin for the U.S. Senate and Tom Vilsack for governor.
Psaki then became deputy press secretary for John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. From 2005 to 2006, Psaki served as communications director to U.S. Representative Joseph Crowley and regional press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Barack Obama, Psaki served as traveling press secretary.After Obama won the election, Psaki followed Obama to the White House as Deputy Press Secretary and was promoted to Deputy Communications Director on December 19, 2009.In 2010, Psaki married Gregory Mecher, a deputy finance director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. They have two children.
On September 22, 2011, Psaki left this position to become senior vice president and managing director at the Washington, D.C., office of public relations firm Global Strategy Group.
In 2012, Psaki returned to political communications as press secretary for President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
On February 11, 2013, Psaki became the spokesperson for the United States Department of State.
In 2015, she returned to the White House as communications director and stayed through the end of the Obama administration.
On February 7, 2017, Psaki began working as a political commentator on CNN.