Patrick Gaspard

Patrick Gaspard


United States Ambassador to South Africa
Incumbent
Assumed office October 16, 2013
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Donald Gips
White House Director of Political Affairs
In office January 20, 2009 – February 1, 2011
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Jonathan Felts
Succeeded by	David Simas
Personal details
Born	1967 (age 48–49) Kinshasa, Zaire (now Congo-Kinshasa)
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Columbia University

Patrick Gaspard (born 1967) is the current United States Ambassador to South Africa. He is a noted Democratic Party political leader and elections staffer.

Background

Born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Haitian parents, Gaspard moved with his parents to the United States when he was three years old.^[1] Gaspard graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School and attended Columbia University from 1994 to 1997.

He is married and has two children.

Career

Prior to becoming Ambassador to South Africa, Gaspard was most well known for his time at the White House and as the day-to-day leader of the Democratic Party headquarters. He served as the Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee from 2011 to 2013, overseeing the party committee's efforts to re-elect President Obama. Previously, he was the Director of the White House Office of Political Affairs for the Obama administration from January 2009 to 2011,^[1]^[2] Associate Personnel Director of President-elect Obama's transition team,^[3] and National Political Director of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.

Gaspard's early career was spent in New York City, including working on the 1988 Jesse Jackson presidential bid and David Dinkins's successful 1989 mayoral campaign.^[4] He went on to serve as a Special Assistant in the Office of the Manhattan Borough President and Special Assistant in the Office of Mayor Dinkins, and later, from 1998-1999, Chief of Staff to the New York City Council.^[5] In 2003-2004, he worked for Governor Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign as the National Deputy Field Director, and in 2004, was the National Field Director for America Coming Together.^[5]

Gaspard spent nine years as the executive vice president for politics and legislation for the 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East labor union, the largest local union in America.^[6]^[7] He helped coordinate political activity and government relations on behalf of 300,000 members. In 2006, he served as the acting political director for SEIU International during the national union's successful effort to help Democrats capture majorities in the House and Senate.

He is also a former community organizer around school reform issues.

Ambassador to South Africa

It was leaked in March 2013 that President Obama was planning to nominate Gaspard to the post of United States Ambassador to South Africa.^[8] His Senate confirmation hearing was held on July 24, 2013,^[9] and he was sworn into the post on August 26, 2013.^[10]^[11]

Gaspard is a close friend of Bill de Blasio, the Mayor of New York City. In September 2013, he brokered a peace between de Blasio and his primary rival Bill Thompson that prevented Thompson from challenging de Blasio in a runoff.^[12] Earlier, de Blasio had personally thanked Gaspard in his primary victory speech.^[13]

References

1 2 Elliott, Stuart (January 18, 2009). "'Obama's People': A Who's Who". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved June 29, 2010.
↑ Politico (2011). Gaspard to DNC, Dillon to re-elect. Retrieved April 4, 2011.
↑ "Obama Names Transition Team". U.S. News & World Report. November 5, 2008. Retrieved June 29, 2010.
↑ McLeod, Courtney (September 2006). "Rising Stars: 35 under 40; The next generation of political leaders in New York". City Hall News. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
1 2 http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/27/president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts
↑ Sherman, Jake (June 28, 2010). "White House aide failed to disclose $40K payout". Politico. Retrieved June 29, 2010.
↑ McCallister, Jared (June 27, 2008). "Haitian American labor leader Patrick Gaspard in key job with Barack Obama". Daily News. Retrieved June 29, 2010.
↑ http://thegrio.com/2013/03/04/president-obamas-new-man-in-south-africa/
↑ http://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Gaspard_Testimony.pdf
↑ https://twitter.com/VP/status/371990824508071937
↑ http://www.haiti.org/index.php/section-blog/207-haitian-american-patrick-gaspard-was-sworn-as-us-ambassador-to-south-africa&Itemid=82
↑ http://www.cityandstateny.com/ambassador-bridged-divide-between-de-blasio-and-thompson/
↑ "Bill de Blasio campaign driven by political mix of former Clinton and Obama aides, U.S. ambassador to South Africa, and local talent". Daily News. New York.

External links

Political offices
Preceded by Johnathan Felts	White House Director of Political Affairs 2009–2011	Succeeded by David Simas
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Donald Gips	United States Ambassador to South Africa 2013–present	Incumbent

Barack Obama's Executive Office of the President

Office	Name	Term	Office	Name	Term
White House Chief of Staff White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy	Rahm Emanuel Pete Rouse William M. Daley Jack Lew Denis McDonough Mona Sutphen Nancy-Ann DeParle Rob Nabors	2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013– 2009–11 2011–13 2013–15	National Security Advisor Deputy National Security Advisor Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan	Jim Jones Thomas E. Donilon Susan Rice Thomas E. Donilon Denis McDonough Tony Blinken Avril Haines Douglas Lute^†	2009–10 2010–13 2013– 2009–10 2010–13 2013–14 2015– 2009–13
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations	Jim Messina Alyssa Mastromonaco Anita Decker Breckenridge	2009–11 2011–14 2014–	Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security	Ben Rhodes John O. Brennan Lisa Monaco	2009– 2009–13 2013–
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning	Mark B. Childress Kristie Canegallo	2012–14 2014–	Deputy National Security Advisor and NSC Chief of Staff	Denis McDonough Brooke Anderson	2009–10 2011–12
Senior Advisor to the President	David Axelrod David Plouffe Daniel Pfeiffer Shailagh Murray	2009–11 2011–13 2013–15 2015–	White House Communications Director	Anita Dunn Daniel Pfeiffer Jennifer Palmieri Jen Psaki	2009 2009–13 2013–15 2015–
Senior Advisor to the President Counselor to the President	Pete Rouse Brian Deese Pete Rouse John Podesta	2009–10 2015– 2011–13 2014–15	Deputy White House Communications Director	Jen Psaki Jennifer Palmieri Amy Brundage	2009–11 2011–14 2014–15
Senior Advisor to the President and Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs Director of Public Engagement Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Director, National Economic Council	Valerie Jarrett Christina Tchen Jon Carson Paulette Aniskoff Cecilia Muñoz David Agnew Jerry Abramson Lawrence Summers Gene Sperling Jeffrey Zients	2009– 2009–11 2011–13 2013– 2009–12 2012–14 2014– 2009–10 2011–14 2014–	White House Press Secretary Deputy Press Secretary Director of Special Projects Director of Speechwriting White House Counsel	Robert Gibbs Jay Carney Josh Earnest Bill Burton Josh Earnest Eric Schultz Stephanie Cutter Jon Favreau Cody Keenan Greg Craig Robert Bauer Kathryn Ruemmler Neil Eggleston	2009–11 2011–13 2013– 2009–11 2011–13 2014– 2010–11 2009–13 2013– 2009–10 2010–11 2011–14 2014–
Deputy Director, National Economic Council Deputy Director, National Economic Council Chair of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board	Diana Farrell Brian Deese Jason Furman Paul Volcker	2009–11 2011–13 2009–13 2009–11	Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs	Phil Schiliro Rob Nabors Miguel Rodriguez Katie Beirne Fallon Amy Rosenbaum	2009–11 2011–13 2013–2016 2016–
Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors	Christina Romer Austan Goolsbee Jason Furman	2009–10 2010–13 2013–	Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs	Lisa Konwinski Amy Rosenbaum	2009– 2014–2016
Member of the Council of Economic Advisors	Katharine Abraham	2011–	Executive Clerk	George T. Saunders^† David Kalbaugh	2009–12 2012–
Member of the Council of Economic Advisors	Cecilia Rouse	2009–	Director, Office of Political Affairs	Patrick Gaspard David Simas	2009–11 2013–
Director, Office of Management and Budget	Peter R. Orszag Jack Lew Jeffrey Zients Sylvia Mathews Burwell Brian Deese Shaun Donovan	2009–10 2010–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014 2014–	Chief Technology Officer Chief Information Officer	Aneesh Chopra Todd Park Megan Smith Vivek Kundra Steven VanRoekel Tony Scott	2009–12 2012–14 2014– 2009–11 2011–14 2015–
Chief Performance Officer and Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget	Jeffrey Zients	2009–13	Director, Office of Presidential Personnel	Nancy Hogan Johnathan McBride Valerie Green	2010–14 2014–15 2015–
Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget	Jeffrey Liebman Heather Higginbottom Brian Deese	2010 2011–13 2013–15	Director of Scheduling and Advance Director, White House Military Office	Alyssa Mastromonaco Danielle White Crutchfield George D. Mulligan Jr. Emmett Beliveau	2009–11 2011– 2009–13 2013–
United States Trade Representative	Ron Kirk Michael Froman	2009–13 2013–	Cabinet Secretary	Chris Lu Broderick Johnson	2009–13 2013–
Director, Domestic Policy Council	Melody Barnes Cecilia Muñoz	2009–12 2012–	Deputy Cabinet Secretary	Liz Sears Smith Rachana Bhowmik Michael Robertson Gaurab Bansal	2009–11 2011–13 2013–15 2015–
Deputy Director, Domestic Policy Council	Heather Higginbottom Mark Zuckerman	2009–11 2011–	Staff Secretary	Lisa Brown Rajesh De Douglas Kramer Joani Walsh	2009–11 2011–12 2012–13 2014–
Director, Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships	Joshua DuBois Melissa Rogers	2009–2013 2013–	Assistant to the President for Management and Administration	Bradley Kiley Katy Kale Maju Varghese	2009–13 2013–15 2015–
Director, Office of Health Reform	Nancy-Ann DeParle	2009–11	Director, Oval Office Operations	Micaela Fernandez Brian Mosteller	2009–12 2012–
Deputy Director, Office of Health Reform	Jeanne Lambrew	2009–2011	Personal Aide to the President	Reggie Love Marvin Nicholson	2009–11 2011–
Director, Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy	Carol Browner	2009–11	Personal Secretary to the President	Katie Johnson Anita Decker Breckenridge Ferial Govashiri	2009–11 2011–14 2014–
Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change	Heather Zichal Dan Utech	2009–2013 2013–	Special Projects Coordinator and Confidential Assistant to the President	Eugene Kang	2009–11
Director, Council on Environmental Quality	Nancy Sutley Michael Boots	2009–2014 2014–	Director, Office of National AIDS Policy	Jeffrey Crowley Grant Cofax Douglas Brooks	2009–2011 2012–2014 2014–
Chief of Staff to the First Lady	Jackie Norris Susan Sher Christina Tchen	2009 2009–10 2011–	Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy	Gil Kerlikowske Michael Botticelli	2009–14 2014–
White House Social Secretary	Desirée Rogers Julianna Smoot Jeremy Bernard Deesha Dyer	2009–10 2010–11 2011–15 2015–	Director, Office of Urban Affairs	Adolfo Carrión Jr. Racquel Russell	2009–2010 2010–
Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy	John Holdren	2009–

^*Senate-confirmation pending. †Remained from previous administration (s).

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