Washington moves of the week: Here's who's coming and going in the Biden administration, Congress, and the press.

  • The Biden administration continued hiring Democratic operatives.
  • A former Trump staffer found new work on Capitol Hill.
  • Prominent 2020 political reporters took on new roles.
  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

The changeover from former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden continues driving most of the movement around Washington this week. Former Trump White House staffers seek liferafts on Capitol Hill and Democrats find new opportunities in the Biden administration. 

And the post-Trump media landscape continues evolving, with a promotion at Vice News and a new post for former Axios reporter Alexi McCammond. 

Here’s Insider’s rundown of the biggest staff moves for the week of March 11. 

White House

Faisal Amin, who most recently helped vet members of Biden’s operations team during the transition, joins the White House as deputy director at the Office of Management and Administration and the Office of Administration. Amin served several roles in the Obama-Biden administration, including chief financial officer of the Executive Office of the President.

Dan Jacobson, a voting rights attorney at Arnold & Porter in Washington, DC, joins the Biden-Harris administration as general counsel for the Office of Administration.

Clare Martorana is federal chief information officer and administrator of the office of electronic government at the office of Management and Budget. Martorana was previously chief information officer at the Office of Personnel Management.

Dana Rosenzweig, an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company, was named deputy director of management and administration for Operations. Rosenzweig served in the Obama-Biden administration as director of administration for the Office of the Vice President.

Alicia O’Brien was named senior counsel for the White House Counsel’s office. O’Brien served at the Department of Justice as an associate deputy attorney general in Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates’ office. She also served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legislative Affairs during the Obama-Biden administration.

Jonathan Black was named special assistant to the president and Senate legislative affairs liaison in the Office of Legislative Affairs. Black previously served as senior policy advisor to Sen. Tom Udall, a New Mexico Democrat, on energy and environmental issues.

Elizabeth Jurinka, former chief health advisor to the Senate Finance Committee and Chairman Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has been named special assistant to the president and Senate legislative affairs liaison.

Chad Metzler has been named special assistant to the president and Senate legislative affairs liaison. Metzler most recently served as legislative director for Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine.

Jim Secreto has been named special assistant to the president and director of confirmations. Secreto is a former counsel to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former chief counsel to the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. Secreto also served as chief investigative counsel to then-ranking member Tom Carper on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Maju Varghese has been named director of the White House Military Office. Varghese was the chief operating office and a senior advisor on the Biden campaign. In the Obama-Biden administration, Varghese served in several roles, including assistant to the president for management and administration.

Eva Kemp, a vice president at SKDK (formerly SKDKnickerbocker), has been named director of presidential correspondence in the Office of Presidential Correspondence. Kemp managed the direct mail program for the Biden campaign.

Amber MacDonald,  Jill Biden’s speechwriter during the Biden presidential campaign, has been named senior presidential speechwriter. MacDonald previously ran her own speechwriting business and also served in the Obama-Biden White House as senior advisor and director of speechwriting for former Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell.

Jeff Nussbaum joins the White House as senior presidential speechwriter. Nussbaum most recently served as a partner at the speechwriting firm West Wing Writers. Prior to that, Nussbaum wrote for former Vice President Al Gore and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

Addar Levi joins the Treasury Department, after serving as former President Barack Obama’s lawyer in his personal office and his charitable foundation, as Insider reported this week.

Capitol Hill

Mara Stark-Alcala joined the staff of Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, as a legislative aide focused on appropriations and transportation. She was previously a lobbyist for the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association.

Allen Lee Lonsberry is the new communications director for Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican. He jumps over from the media world, where he was a host at Utah’s KSL-AM 1160 radio station.

A.J. Sugarman, who previously worked at the Trump White House as a legislative aide, joined Texas Republican Rep. Kay Granger’s office as deputy chief of staff.

Alexi McCammond is jumping from Axios to lead Teen Vogue amid a turbulent early 2021.Michael S. Schwartz/Getty Images

Communications and media

Alexi McCammond will be the new editor in chief of Teen Vogue. She previously covered the Biden campaign and progressives for Axios. McCammond’s racist tweets, sent when she was a teenager in 2011, sparked an outcry from Teen Vogue’s staff. McCammond apologized again for the tweets.

LaRonda Peterson is now managing editor at the Open Markets Institute. She most recently worked as research editor at the RAND Corporation.

Michael Ahrens is now a vice president in Bullpen Strategy Group’s strategic communications and public affairs advisory practice. Ahrens served as the Republican National Committee’s communications director during the 2020 election.

Liz Landers has been promoted to chief political correspondent at Vice News. Landers has covered politics, Congress, and the White House for Vice News since 2019, and CNN before that.

Legal

Andrew Lelling, the Trump-appointed US attorney in Massachusetts, has joined the law firm Jones Day as a partner. In the Trump administration, Lelling oversaw the prosecutions of several celebrities charged in the college admissions scandal, including the “Full House” star Lori Loughlin. Under Lelling’s tenure, the federal prosecutor’s office in Boston also brought a high-profile case against a prominent Harvard professor who has pleaded not guilty to charges he lied to US authorities about receiving millions of dollars in funding from the Chinese government. He starts at Jones Day, a firm closely tied to Trump, on April 5.

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