Chris Lu
Chris Lu | |
---|---|
United States Ambassador to the United Nations for Management and Reform | |
Assumed office January 4, 2022 | |
President | Joe Biden |
Preceded by | Cherith Norman Chalet |
35th United States Deputy Secretary of Labor | |
In office April 4, 2014 – January 20, 2017 | |
President | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Seth Harris |
Succeeded by | Patrick Pizzella |
17th White House Cabinet Secretary | |
In office January 20, 2009 – January 25, 2013 | |
President | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Ross M. Kyle |
Succeeded by | Danielle Gray |
Personal details | |
Born | New Jersey, U.S. | June 12, 1966
Political party | Democratic |
Education | Princeton University (BA) Harvard University (JD) |
Christopher P. Lu (
After serving briefly as an advisor on
Early life and education
Chris Lu was born on June 12, 1966, in
Lu attended the
Career
After graduating
In 1997, Lu left Sidley Austin and took his first job in the political arena as deputy chief counsel for Representative Henry Waxman and the Democratic staff of the
Barack Obama's Senate office
After Barack Obama was elected as U.S. Senator of Illinois, Lu joined Obama's office in early 2005 as legislative director. Lu developed a strong admiration for Obama, of whom he said, "With his quick and incisive mind, Obama is the most intelligent person that I have ever met (in the political arena)."[9] As legislative director, Lu led a 15-person group and was responsible for overseeing the drafting of all legislation and advising Obama on votes and policy decisions.[11] When weighing difficult votes, Obama had Lu and his other staff members assemble together and argue about the issue in front of him. David Mendell, a Chicago Tribune reporter and Obama biographer, said Lu was among the "moderate voices in this atmosphere of smart young staffers."[15] Lu advised Obama to vote in favor of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 because he felt it would have been politically wiser to support it, but Obama ultimately voted against it.[15]
Lu said of his role as legislative director, "It's one of the most fun jobs in the Senate (but) it's also an incredibly difficult job because you have to know something about any given thing going on in the Senate at the time ... It takes a couple years off your life."[10] Lu, along with Robert Gibbs and several other Obama staffers, read Obama's manuscript for The Audacity of Hope and provided him with several editorial suggestions.[16]
Lu eventually became acting chief of staff in Obama's Senate office. When Obama announced his
Obama administration
In May 2008, Obama asked Lu to begin planning for a possible presidential transition.[17] Obama warned him to tell no one about the nascent operation, even his own wife, so Lu quietly rented a small office in D.C.[17] and secretly met with people who had worked on previous Democratic presidential transition efforts.[18] The planning efforts produced policy options on a wide range of topics, compiled names of and began vetting potential political appointees for top jobs, arranged over 100 security clearances, and managed the logistics for expanding the operations after Election Day.[19]
After Obama's victory, Lu became executive director of the Obama-Biden Transition Project, a position that was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the transition. During the transition period, Lu was in daily contact with Bush administration officials, managed the $9 million budget, and negotiated the ground rules for Obama transition representatives to gather information on federal agency operations and programs.[19]
"My job (at the White House) is the same job I've had all along, which is to keep the trains running on time, and to make sure that on any given day, the White House and the agencies are all moving down the same set of tracks."
Chris Lu[7]
Obama selected Lu to serve as Cabinet Secretary, making him one of the highest-ranking Asian Americans in the administration, along with Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.[7] At the time of his selection, The New York Times reporter Michael Falcone wrote, "By now, Mr. Lu knows the president-elect's record better than almost anyone."[4]
Lu's responsibilities included representing Obama's positions to each of the
In July 2009, Lu visited
On January 8, 2014, Lu was nominated by President Obama to be the Deputy Secretary for the United States Department of Labor.[23] He was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on April 1, 2014.[24] Lu became the first Asian American to hold the position, and only the second Asian American in history to serve as deputy secretary of a cabinet department, after Elaine Chao.[25] Lu's service in this position ended on January 20, 2017, concurrent with the end of the Obama Administration.
Career after Obama administration
Lu soon took up positions as a Senior Fellow of the University of Virginia Miller Center, specializing in presidential scholarship, and as a Senior Advisor to FiscalNote. He remains heavily involved as a DNC superdelegate and co-chaired DNC Chairman Tom Perez's transition committee.[26]
In November 2020, Lu was named a volunteer member of the Joe Biden presidential transition Agency Review Team to support transition efforts related to the United States Department of Labor.[27]
Ambassador to United Nations
On April 27, 2021, President
References
- ^ "Nominations Sent to the Senate". The White House. April 29, 2021. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
- ^ "Statement from the President on the Departure of Chris Lu". Office of the Press Secretary, The White House. January 25, 2013. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
- ^ White House Website, "Leadership Bios for Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders"
- ^ a b c d e Falcone, Michael (December 1, 2008). "The New Team: Christopher Lu". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
- ^ Incorporated, Prime. "National Academy of Public Administration". National Academy of Public Administration. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
- ^ Hendrix, Steve (December 14, 2008). "For Some on Obama Team, Capital Is Close to Home". The Washington Post. pp. C01. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ a b c d Lois Romano (October 22, 2009). "Voices of Power: Chris Lu". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 12, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2009.
- ^ "Why He Matters". Washington Post Politics. Archived from the original on January 8, 2019. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
- ^ a b c d Chiu, Christine (April 20, 2008). "Indian-American Chief of Staff Chris Lu assists Obama". World Journal. pp. A–3. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved November 7, 2008.
- ^ Daily Princetonian. Archivedfrom the original on January 30, 2009. Retrieved December 30, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e "Kaleo O Aapi: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders." Archived March 25, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Obama for America, official campaign literature, pg.4, July 25, 2008.
- ^ Lu, Christopher Pey-Ning. Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (ed.). "Press Coverage of Presidential Primaries, 1972-1984".
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ Brown, Carrie Budoff (December 5, 2008). "School buds: 20 Harvard classmates advising Obama". POLITICO. Archived from the original on July 1, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
- ^ Martin, Jonathan (February 22, 2009). "Big W.H. role for low-profile Schiliro". Politico. Archived from the original on February 26, 2009. Retrieved February 27, 2009.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-06-085820-9.
- ISBN 978-0-307-45587-1.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4391-0119-3.
- ^ Martha Joynt Kumar, "The 2009-2009 Presidential Transition Through the Voices of Its Participants," Presidential Studies Quarterly, volume 39:4 (December 2009)
- ^ a b Partnership for Public Service, Ready to Govern: Improving the Presidential Transition (January 2010)
- ^ Ambinder, Marc (November 19, 2008). "Axelrod, Brown, Craig, Lu Announced". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on October 12, 2009. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
- ^ Palmer, Doug (July 16, 2009). "Do looks matter in China?". Reuters. Archived from the original on August 22, 2009. Retrieved September 9, 2009.
- ^ White House Press Release, "President Obama Announces Presidential Delegation to Shanghai, China to Attend U.S.A. National Day at Expo 2010 Shanghai" (June 29, 2010)
- National Archives.
- ^ Kamen, Al (April 1, 2014). "Lu Confirmed for Labor #2, Whitaker for Colombia". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ Kamen, Al (January 8, 2014). "Obama picks his first Asian American deputy secretary of cabinet department". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 14, 2016. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
- ^ "Chris Lu | Miller Center". Archived from the original on February 1, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
- ^ "Agency Review Teams". President-Elect Joe Biden. Archived from the original on August 28, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- ^ "PN552 - Nomination of Christopher P. Lu for Department of State, 117th Congress (2021-2022)". www.congress.gov. December 18, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
- ^ "Ambassador Christopher P. Lu". United States Mission to the United Nations. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
External links
- Chris Lu collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Appearances on C-SPAN