Jess Smith

Jess Smith joins American Progress as the chief of staff and vice president after serving as chief of staff at The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights. During the Biden-Harris administration, she was a senior policy advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris, focusing on health care, with a heavy emphasis on reproductive health, and on various other issues such as antisemitism and Islamophobia. She also served at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as deputy assistant secretary for administration and acting director of intergovernmental and external affairs.

Smith spent many years on Capitol Hill, as chief of staff to Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and communications director for retired Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA). Smith also served as chief operating officer for the advocacy organization J Street, and as managing director at the global public affairs firm Burson-Marsteller, now Burson. During the Obama-Biden administration, Smith was director of external affairs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and she served as a spokesperson for the Department of Justice, focusing on civil rights issues and matters before the Associate Attorney General and the 94 U.S. attorneys.

Smith is a graduate of Cornell University and lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband Erik and their two awesome kids.