President Obama has tapped his personal assistant to replace longtime aide Alyssa Mastromonaco as his deputy chief of staff for operations.
Anita Breckenridge, who currently manages the president’s daily schedule and serves as gatekeeper for the Oval Office, is another veteran Obama staffer who first joined the president’s staff in 2003, when he served in the Illinois state Senate.
{mosads}Breckenridge worked for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and was appointed as chief of staff for the National Endowment for the Arts after the president’s election. In May 2011, she came to the White House to work as the president’s personal assistant.
In her new role, Breckenridge will be tasked with overseeing presidential personnel, helping Obama fill Cabinet vacancies and hiring senior administration staff. She also will coordinate with the White House Military Office to oversee operations of Camp David and the military aircraft that transports the president, and will work with the Secret Service on security matters affecting the first family.
Breckenridge’s other duties will include coordinating federal responses to natural disasters, and working with the president’s scheduling and advance team to set strategies for delegating the president’s time.
She’ll be taking over for Mastromonaco, who was widely heralded as a hyper-organized and diligent taskmaster in the Oval Office and is expected to take a role organizing Obama’s presidential library and foundation.
In an interview with The Hill in 2012, Mastromonaco admitted she sometimes even scheduled reminders to watch her favorite TV show or take her vitamins.
“If this is the person you have to be, these are the things you have to do,” she said.
White House chief of staff Denis McDonough said “nobody works harder for President Obama” than Mastromonaco in a statement on Tuesday.
“Alyssa has served at the President’s side for the past ten years and her leadership can be felt in all corners of the White House,” McDonough said. “Alyssa is results-driven — but people-focused — and always puts the country’s interests first. She may be leaving the White House but she will not be going far, as the President will continue to rely on her wise counsel.”
McDonough also heralded Breckenridge as someone with the “complete trust” of the president.
“She has impeccable judgment, extraordinary foresight, and the battle-tested resolve to help lead this White House for the next three years,” he said.