tod
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response 38 of 40:
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Sep 6 16:38 UTC 2021 |
Ron Klain was well versed in political campaigning by the time he entered
Harvard Law School. He was named associate general counsel and Vice President
Al Gore's chief of staff in the Bill Clinton administration, and later became
Vice President Joe Biden's top aide and the "Ebola czar" under President
Barack Obama. Klain, who has also served as counsel, adviser and board member
for numerous organizations, rejoined Biden for the 2020 U.S. presidential
campaign and was tapped as the president's chief of staff in November 2020.
After managing Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey's 1984 Senate campaign,
Klain entered Harvard Law School. He won the Sears Prize for the top
grade-point average in 1985 and served as editor of the Harvard Law Review,
before earning his J.D. in 1987.
Klain joined Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign as an adviser and debate
coach, the latter a duty he would fulfill for generations of Democratic
candidates to come. He became associate counsel to President Clinton, where
he was tasked with judicial selections like the nomination of Ruth Bader
Ginsburg to the Supreme Court, and then chief of staff to Attorney General
Janet Reno.
Gore's Chief of Staff and Florida Recount
Klain served as Vice President Gore's chief of staff for nearly four years,
until announcing his departure in August 1999. He returned to the
then-Democratic presidential candidate's team to lead the heavily contested
and ultimately unsuccessful Florida recount in late 2000.
Obama Administration
After spending the better part of a decade in the private sector, Klain
returned to the federal government as Vice President Biden's chief of staff
from 2009 into early 2011.
'Ebola Czar'
President Obama again turned to his former aide to lead the U.S. government's
response to the Ebola pandemic in October 2014. While the move was criticized
for Klain's lack of a medical background, the "Ebola czar" effectively
organized the joint military and civilian response in West Africa and handled
the thorny aspects of evacuating infected Americans from the area and the
disposal of Ebola-related hospital waste.
His success was such that the president announced the withdrawal of nearly
all of the 3,000 troops deployed to West Africa in February 2015, around the
time Klain stepped down from the position. In response, the president released
a statement which read: "He took on a challenge that many called
insurmountable, and, in leading the team responsible for the tremendous
progress, helped remind the world what makes America so exceptional."
Biden 2020 Campaign and Chief of Staff
Klain returned to familiar ground as a top Biden aide for the 2020
presidential campaign. Along with fulfilling his regular role of debate coach,
he emerged as a leading critic of President Donald Trump's response to the
coronavirus pandemic.
After Biden was named the election's winner by most major media outlets on
November 7, 2020 a result contested by Trump's legal team the president
tapped Klain for the role of chief of staff on November 11.
Corporate Law and Board Memberships
Before and after his time with the Gore campaign team, Klain served as a
partner at the Washington, D.C., office of O'Melveny & Myers LLP, where he
lobbied for major clients like lender Sallie Mae and pharmaceutical company
ImClone.
Klain then forged a longtime partnership with AOL founder Steve Case, signing
on as executive vice president and general counsel for Case's investment firm
Revolution LLC in 2005. Additionally, he was named president of Case's holding
company in 2011.
After leaving the Obama administration, Klain became an external advisor to
the Skoll Global Threats Fund and chair of the advisory board for investment
firm Higher Ground Labs. He has also served on the boards of the American
Progress Action Fund, the American Constitution Society and Third Way, and
as an adjunct professor at Harvard Law and Georgetown.
Skoll supports and identify initiatives to: combat climate change, water
scarcity, pandemics, nuclear proliferation and Middle East conflict. The
Skoll Global Threats Fund has headquarters in San Francisco, California.
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