Margaret Sullivan

Margaret C. Sullivan (born 1962) serves as the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Chief Operating Officer as well as Chief of Staff. Prior to joining the Obama Administration, she served as Director of Political Risk Management at Farallon Capital Management., a large investment firm based in San Francisco, California. Sullivan began her federal career on Capitol Hill, where she served as a Professional Staff Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and as National Security Adviser to the House Majority Leader. In 1994, Sullivan joined the Clinton administration and served as The Special Assistant to Defense Secretary William Perry, helping to manage his relationship with the White House, Congress and national press corps. At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, she served as West Coast Regional Director and as Chief of Staff for Secretary Andrew Cuomo. She has also served as Chief of Staff for the United States Trade Representative in the Executive Office of the President. 2Early career and education Originally from California, Sullivan graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in political science from Stanford University and was a two-year MacArthur Fellow at the University of Maryland where she earned a Master's Degree in public management.Upon graduation, Sullivan worked as a legislative assistant for Senator Gary Hart from 1984 to 1987. After she served as Congressman Nicholas Mavroules' representative to the Armed Services Committee. She also worked on the staff of House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 1991 and as a senior policy advisor to House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt from 1992 to 1994. 2Political career 3Defense Sullivan began working as the Special Assistant, the civilian equivalent to the Chief of Staff, to Defense Secretary William Perry in 1994 where she managed the Secretary's relationship with the press corps, the White House and the United States Congress.The press debacle during the Somalia operations of the early 1990s, the emergence of the 24-hour news cycle and the widespread adoption of the internet forced the military to alter its interaction with the press corps around military operation