Jeff Zients is expected to take over as President Joe Biden‘s chief of staff, replacing Ron Klain, who is reportedly stepping down. Here are five things to know about Zients.
Biden’s coronavirus response coordinator
Zients was Biden’s top pandemic response coordinator from January 2021 to April 2022. He was referred to by the president as a “man of service and an expert manager.”
Under his watch, vaccination rates climbed beyond 75% of all adults fully vaccinated to date, but the administration also failed to procure sufficient tests and therapeutics for the omicron surge.
Ashish K. Jha, previously the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, took over from Zients when he departed the role.
JEFF ZIENTS SET TO BE NEXT WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: REPORT
Responsibilities within the Obama administration
The tapped chief of staff worked with former President Barack Obama, serving as the chief performance officer within the Office of Management and Budget in 2009. The role, which fell under his other duties as office deputy director, allowed Zients to assist the government in running more efficiently and cutting costs, per Politico.
Zients helped smooth out the issues with the HealthCare.gov website, which was created under Obama in 2013. The site, considered to be the key to the former president’s affordable healthcare law, crashed shortly after its launch. However, Zients helped to revive the online medical insurance site alongside the Department of Health and Human Services.
He later went on to serve as director for the National Economic Council and as an assistant to the president for economic policy under Obama.
Extensive ties to the private sector
Prior to his stint in government, Zients served as chairman, chief executive officer, and chief operating officer of Washington-based consulting firm Advisory Board Committee, as well as chairman of the Corporate Executive Board, another Washington firm.
He was featured on Forbes’s “40 under 40” richest Americans list in 2002 at No. 25. His estimated wealth of $149 million placed him, at the time, one place above Julia Roberts.
After leaving the Obama administration, Zients served as CEO of Cranemere, a holding company, and also served on Facebook’s board of directors for two years, per CNN.
Bagel boom
The former coronavirus coordinator also has experience in the consumer industry. Zients acted as an adviser and mentor for up-and-coming bagel shop and “Jew-ish” deli Call Your Mother in Washington, D.C., according to the Washingtonian.
Timber Pizza owner Dana Moreira, who. along with Zients, helped open the store, told the outlet that many recipe tastings occurred at Zients’s home in 2018. He allegedly wanted to call the deli “Apples & Honey,” according to Moreira.
Struck out with the Washington Nationals
Zients, along with philanthropist Fred Malek and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, worked to buy the Washington Nationals but lost to the Lerner family, according to Politico. The family bought the team in 2006.
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However, a report from April 2022 claimed the Lerner family may consider either bringing in new investors or selling the team altogether.
The White House has yet to comment publicly on Zients’s appointment or Klain’s departure, but four people familiar with the decision alerted the Washington Post to the arrangement.
