WASHINGTON, DC–As the Center for American Progress continues to expand its work and impact, we are pleased to announce two changes in our senior management team. Neera Tanden will be rejoining the center to assume the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer. Accompanying Tanden’s assumption of the COO role, our current Executive Vice President Sarah Rosen Wartell’s responsibilities will shift from a primary focus on managing the Center to a more policy-oriented role overseeing policy development at CAP.
Chief Operating Officer Neera Tanden
As COO, Neera will be responsible for CAP’s strategic planning and management of the institution. Her extensive policy experience—particularly in the area of health reform—will give a significant boost to CAP’s expanding efforts in health care policy and other arenas.
Since President Barack Obama’s inauguration, Neera has served as senior advisor for health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services, where she worked with Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the White House Office of Health Reform on the president’s health insurance reform initiative. Previously, Neera was director of domestic policy for the Obama-Biden presidential campaign and policy director for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. She also served as Senator Clinton’s legislative director; a senior policy adviser to the First Lady in the Clinton White House; a senior policy adviser to Harold Levy, the chancellor of New York City schools; and issues director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Neera received her bachelor of science degree at UCLA and received her J.D. from Yale Law School. In addition to her work at CAP, Neera will be an online contributor to The New Republic.
“When CAP existed only on paper, Neera had a vision and great instincts for how a serious, idea-based institution could play an important role shaping the national debate and the policy that it yielded. Her early leadership helped lay the foundation for making CAP the strong institution it is today. But we are not standing still. We are thrilled to have Neera back on board, assuming a central management role, as American Progress enters the next phase of its continuing growth, maturity, and evolution,” said John Podesta, President and CEO of CAP.
Executive Vice President Sarah Rosen Wartell
One of CAP’s original architects, Sarah has been responsible for building the institution, overseeing its operations, and running its strategic planning from its founding. Continuing as Executive Vice President, Sarah will switch her focus to a primarily policy-related role, overseeing the development of CAP’s policy work and dedicating more time to public outreach, development, promoting the policy work of the center, and her own work on housing finance.
“No one has been more critical to the success of American Progress than Sarah. She was there on day one laying out the broad vision for CAP’s success and has sweated every detail along the way. Sarah has helped build an extraordinarily talented team of staff and her personal commitment to excellence challenges all of us to think bolder and work harder,” said John Podesta.
Prior to the founding of CAP, Sarah served in the White House in the Clinton administration, after spending the first term at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. As deputy assistant to the president for economic policy and deputy director of the National Economic Council, she advised the president on banking, government insurance and financial markets, housing and community development, consumer protection, pensions, bankruptcy, e-commerce, and a host of other economic policy issues. She led large interagency policymaking efforts, represented the administration in legislative negotiations with Congress, and guided the creation of President Bill Clinton’s New Market’s Initiative to spur investment in underserved areas, and his Financial Privacy and Consumer Protection Plan.