Back to the Beltway for W&L Alumna
Sarah Feinberg, of Washington and Lee’s Class of 1999, is on her way back to the Beltway after a stint with Facebook.
Sarah has been named chief of staff at the Department of Transportation under new Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, former mayor of Charlotte. A politics major at W&L, Sarah is scheduled to begin that assignment in mid-September and returns with high expectations based on her previous work in the administration.
A POLITICO notice of the appointment began: “Secretary Foxx may be a recent addition to the Beltway’s power arc, but his selection of Sarah Feinberg as his chief of staff means he’ll have a top-flight lieutenant who understands what makes Washington tick.”
Sarah’s experience includes having served as special assistant to President Barack Obama and senior adviser to former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. She was Emanuel’s liaison to the Obama economic team and press and communications departments. During her time at the White House, Sarah helped coordinate the Obama administration’s responses to the country’s fiscal and economic crisis, the H1N1 flu pandemic and the 2009 mine disaster in her native state of West Virginia.
Earlier in her career, Sarah was communications director for House Democratic Caucus and press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She was also press secretary to former Sen. Tom Daschle when he was minority leader.
In its report on the appointment, POLITICO quoted from a statement from Emanuel that read, in part: “From working with Sarah on the Hill and in the White House, I know she is a dedicated public servant and a talented, shrewd strategist, and I congratulate her on this new role.”
After leaving the White House, Sarah had worked at Bloomberg LP before joining Facebook in the summer of 2011, serving as the spokeswoman on a wide variety of issues. For instance, you can watch her explaining how to use Facebook’s tool to become an organ donor in this video on ABC News.
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