Denis McDonough

Denis McDonough served as White House Chief of Staff for President Obama’s second term, managing the White House staff, Cabinet Secretaries, agency leaders and providing strategic advice to the President on the most significant domestic policy, national security and management issues of the day.

Prior to his role as Chief of Staff, he served as Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor. McDonough’s distinguished career includes chairing the National Security Council’s Deputies Committee, working as a senior foreign policy advisor to Senator Tom Daschle and Obama for America, and he held senior leadership and policy-making positions in the U.S. House of Representatives and in the U.S. Senate.

McDonough was appointed Senior Principal at the Markle Foundation in February 2017. In this role, he is working to address the skills gap in light of the looming AI revolution. As part of this, McDonough chairs the Rework America Task Force, which focuses on enabling Americans to develop skills they need to grow their careers and find a new place in the changing economy. Through the Task Force, McDonough aims to shape and lead a larger, long-term national conversation about how the technological revolution can serve all stakeholders in the new economy. McDonough also serves as an executive fellow at the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, teaching a global policy seminar for its inaugural cohort of graduate students.

McDonough received his B.A., summa cum laude, from St. John’s University (MN) and his M.S. from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He lives in Maryland with his wife and three children.