Biden and Harris Announce Latest Members of White House Staff

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 12:27 pm

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have announced the latest crop of White House appointees.

“This announcement includes individuals from the Office of the Cabinet Secretary, Office of Political Strategy and Outreach, Office of Public Engagement, and the Office of Management and Administration,” the incoming administration said in a press release.

Cristóbal J. Alex has been appointed Deputy Cabinet Secretary. Alex previously served as Senior Advisor to Biden during the campaign. He also served as the founding President of the Latino Victory Fund as well as Hillary for America’s National Deputy Director of Voter Outreach and Mobilization.

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Evan Ryan, a Senior Adviser to the Biden-Harris transition, has been appointed Cabinet Secretary. A press release notes that she previously “served under Secretary of State John Kerry as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs and worked in the Obama-Biden White House as Assistant to the Vice President and Special Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement.”

For the Office of Political Strategy and Outreach, Biden and Harris have selected Emmy Ruiz, a former campaign aide to Harris, Secretary Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama, and Democratic Chairman Tom Perez, to serve as the administration’s Director of Political Strategy & Outreach. Erin Wilson has been selected as the Deputy Director of Political Strategy & Outreach. She currently serves as Deputy Executive Director to the Presidential Inaugural Committee and before that she served as the Biden-Harris campaign’s national political director.

Additional Roles

• Adrian Saenz, Deputy Director of the Office of Public Engagement. (Saenz previously was an advisor for Latino paid media and mail on the Biden-Harris campaign. He was also the Special Assistant to the President, Deputy Director and Senior Advisor in the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs during the Obama administration.)
• Austin Lin, Deputy Director of Technology. (Lin serves as the Director of Information Technology and Security for the Biden-Harris Transition and previously. An official press release notes he “led Security and IT Systems teams at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and served as a Technical Program Manager on Facebook’s Infrastructure team.”)
• David Recordon, Director of Technology. (Recordon is the current Deputy Chief Technology Officer of the Biden-Harris Transition. Another Obama administration alumni, he served in the U.S. Digital Service “before being appointed as the first Director of White House Information Technology where his teams led massive cybersecurity, efficiency, and modernization efforts,” according to a press release.

“Our nation is facing urgent challenges, and we are building a team that will be ready to tackle them on day one. In addition to working with organizations and communities, these accomplished public servants sit at the forefront of collaboration across the administration. They will lead initiatives ranging from developing policies and processes, to ensuring our cyber security needs are met with a whole of government response. Together, they fuel the everyday work to build our nation back better than before. I’m proud to have them serve the American people in the White House,” said President-elect Joe Biden.

Harris said, “To meet the unprecedented challenges facing the American people, we must build an administration that reflects the very best of our country. These accomplished public servants have the knowledge and expertise to hit the ground running on day one. And I look forward to working with them in the White House to rebuild our country in a way that lifts up all Americans.”

Alan Herrera

Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.