Four Colorado College graduates have now been tapped by President Barack Obama to serve in his administration.
David Axelrod P ’09, chief strategist and senior advisor to President Barack Obama, discusses "How Change Won" in Shove Memorial Chapel on April 24, delivering an insider’s look at the 2008 presidential election to a capacity crowd. Photo by Tom Kimmell
Lori Garver ’83, a political science and economics major, was nominated in May as the deputy administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Former Colorado senator Ken Salazar ’77 serves as Obama’s secretary of the interior and Jane Lubchenco ’69 as head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). (See February 2009 Bulletin.)
Garver advised Obama’s presidential campaign and transition team on space issues. She is the president of Capital Space, LLC, and has served as senior advisor for space at the Avascent Group, a strategy and management consulting firm in Washington, D.C.
From 1998 to 2001, Garver served as NASA’s associate administrator of the Office of Policy and Plans and oversaw the analysis, development, and integration of NASA policies and long-range plans. She also worked with the NASA strategic management system and the NASA advisory council, and served as a primary spokesperson for NASA. Prior to this appointment, she served as a senior policy analyst for the office of policy and plans and special assistant to the administrator.
President Barack Obama announced on Thursday, July 9, that he intends to nominate Marcia McNutt ’74 to be director of the U.S. Geological Survey and science advisor to the secretary of the interior. McNutt will be the first woman to head the USGS. For more, see http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/south_bay&id=6909798
Additional Colorado College-Obama administration connections include four parents: Tom Vilsack P ’03, secretary of agriculture; David Axelrod P ’09, senior advisor to Obama and married to Susan Landau Axelrod ’74 P ’09; and Christine Varney P ’09, U.S. Department of Justice assistant attorney general.
