Before founding the Center for American Progress and becoming Visiting Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, John Podesta served as Chief of Staff to President William J. Clinton, where he was responsible for directing, managing, and overseeing all policy development, daily operations, Congressional relations, and staff activities of the White House. He coordinated the work of cabinet agencies with a particular emphasis on the development of federal budget and tax policy, and served in the President’s Cabinet and as a Principal on the National Security Council. He has also held a number of positions on Capital Hill, including Counselor to Democratic Leader Senator Thomas A. Daschle; Chief Counsel for the Senate Agriculture Committee; Chief Minority Counsel for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks; Security and Terrorism; and Regulatory Reform and Counsel on the Majority Staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In 1988, he founded Podesta Associates, Inc., a Washington, D.C. government relations and public affairs firm. According to its mission statement, the Center for American Progress is “a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all. We believe Americans are bound together by a common commitment to these values and we aspire to ensure our national policies reflect these values.”
