Chris Lu
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Christopher P. Lu (; born June 12, 1966) is a
Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...
political advisor who serves as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for Management and Reform. He is also an alternative representative to the United Nations General Assembly during his tenure as Representative for Management and Reform. In the administration of
United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United State ...
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
, Lu served as the United States Deputy Secretary of Labor from 2014 to 2017, the
White House Cabinet Secretary The White House Cabinet secretary is a high-ranking position within the Executive Office of the President of the United States. The White House Cabinet Secretary is the head of the Office of Cabinet Affairs within the White House Office and the p ...
and Assistant to the President from 2009 to 2013, and the co-chair of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.White House Website, "Leadership Bios for Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders" Lu graduated from the
Woodrow Wilson School The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...
at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
and from
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...
, where he was a classmate of Obama's. After serving briefly as an advisor on
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, Lu began working for Barack Obama in 2005 in his U.S. Senate office, where Lu served as legislative director and acting
chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...
. Following Obama's successful 2008 campaign for presidency, Lu was appointed executive director of the
Obama-Biden Transition Project The 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama began on February 10, 2007, when Barack Obama, then junior United States senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for President of the United States in Springfield, Illinois. After winning a m ...
. When Obama appointed Lu as Cabinet Secretary, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' described him as "one of the highest-ranking
Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...
s in the Obama administration".


Early life and education

Chris Lu was born on June 12, 1966 in
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. In 1974, his family moved to the Fallsmead neighborhood of
Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city that serves as the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, and is part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fifth-largest community in ...
, where he graduated from
Thomas S. Wootton High School Thomas S. Wootton High School or Wootton High School (WHS) is a public high school in Rockville, Maryland. Its namesake is Thomas S. Wootton, the founder of Montgomery County. The school was founded in 1970 and is part of the Montgomery County ...
in 1984. Lu is the son of Eileen and Chien-Yang Lu, both of whom were born in
mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
and lived in
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
until the 1950s when they emigrated to the United States to attend college. Lu's grandfather, Wang Renyuan, was
Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
Minister of Justice from 1970 to 1976 and was elected to the first
Legislative Yuan The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for 4-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a parallel v ...
in 1948 to represent
Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...
. Lu said he was heavily influenced by his father, who worked as an electrical engineer but loved literature and history; the two would read biographies of politicians and watch the evening news together. Lu attended the
Woodrow Wilson School The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...
at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
, where he was the senior news editor of the '' Daily Princetonian''. Lu's ambition for a political career developed at Princeton, particularly during his internship in the
Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...
office of
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
Charles Mathias. He graduated ''
magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...
'' in 1988,"Kaleo O Aapi: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders."
'' Obama for America'', official campaign literature, pg.4, July 25, 2008.
after writing a 161-page long senior thesis titled "Press Coverage of Presidential Primaries, 1972-1984." After graduating from Princeton, Lu attended
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...
, where he was one of Barack Obama's classmates from 1988 to 1991.


Career

After graduating ''
cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
'' from Harvard in 1991, Lu started his career as a law clerk to Judge Robert Cowen in the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts: * District of Delaware * District of New Jersey * East ...
. In 1992, he began working as a litigation attorney at the Washington, D.C. office of
Sidley Austin Sidley Austin LLP is an American multinational law firm with approximately 2,000 lawyers in 20 offices worldwide. The firm's headquarters is at One South Dearborn in Chicago's Loop. The firm specializes in a variety of areas in both litigation ...
, a large Chicago-based law firm. Barack Obama and his wife,
Michelle Michelle may refer to: People * Michelle (name), a given name and surname, the feminine form of Michael * Michelle Courtens, Dutch singer, performing as "Michelle" * Michelle (German singer) * Michelle (Scottish singer) (born 1980), Scottis ...
, also worked at Sidley Austin, in the firm's
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
office. In 1997, Lu left Sidley Austin and took his first job in the political arena as deputy chief counsel for Representative Henry Waxman and the Democratic staff of the
Oversight and Government Reform Committee The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the ...
of the House of Representatives. Phil Schiliro, Waxman's chief of staff, had a large part in the decision to hire Lu; the two would work together again later on the Obama administration; Lu later said he considers Schiliro and Pete Rouse, another future
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
staffer, among his most influential mentors. During his tenure with the Government Reform Committee, Lu conducted several high-profile investigations, including investigations into campaign fundraising during the 1996 presidential election, the collapse of Enron, and substandard nursing home conditions. Lu also served as special adviser for communications to Senator John Kerry during the 2004 presidential election. One of his primary duties there was coordinating the activities of families of
September 11 attack The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
victims supporting the Kerry campaign.


Barack Obama's Senate office

After Barack Obama was elected as U.S. Senator of
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
, Lu joined Obama's office in early 2005 as legislative director. Lu developed a strong admiration for Obama, of whom he said, "With his quick and incisive mind, Obama is the most intelligent person that I have ever met (in the political arena)." As legislative director, Lu led a 15-person group and was responsible for overseeing the drafting of all legislation and advising Obama on votes and policy decisions. When weighing difficult votes, Obama had Lu and his other staff members assemble together and argue about the issue in front of him. David Mendell, a ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' reporter and Obama biographer, said Lu was among the "moderate voices in this atmosphere of smart young staffers." Lu advised Obama to vote in favor of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 because he felt it would have been politically wiser to support it, but Obama ultimately voted against it. Lu said of his role as legislative director, "It's one of the most fun jobs in the Senate (but) it's also an incredibly difficult job because you have to know something about any given thing going on in the Senate at the time ... It takes a couple years off your life." Lu, along with Robert Gibbs and several other Obama staffers, read Obama's manuscript for ''
The Audacity of Hope ''The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream'' is the second book written by Barack Obama. It became number one on both the ''New York Times'' and Amazon.com bestsellers lists in the fall of 2006, after Obama had been endo ...
'' and provided him with several editorial suggestions. Lu eventually became acting chief of staff in Obama's Senate office. When Obama announced his candidacy for president in February 2007, Lu did not move over to the campaign, but remained to continue running Obama's operations in the Senate; Lu said of Obama at that time, "Even while he was running for president, he had a day job n the Senate"


Obama administration

In May 2008, Obama asked Lu to begin planning for a possible presidential transition. Obama warned him to tell no one about the nascent operation, even his own wife, so Lu quietly rented a small office in D.C. and secretly met with people who had worked on previous Democratic presidential transition efforts.Martha Joynt Kumar, "The 2009-2009 Presidential Transition Through the Voices of Its Participants," Presidential Studies Quarterly, volume 39:4 (December 2009) The planning efforts produced policy options on a wide range of topics, compiled names of and began vetting potential political appointees for top jobs, arranged over 100 security clearances, and managed the logistics for expanding the operations after Election Day.Partnership for Public Service, Ready to Govern: Improving the Presidential Transition (January 2010) After Obama's victory, Lu became executive director of the
Obama-Biden Transition Project The 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama began on February 10, 2007, when Barack Obama, then junior United States senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for President of the United States in Springfield, Illinois. After winning a m ...
, a position that was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the transition. During the transition period, Lu was in daily contact with Bush administration officials, managed the $9 million budget, and negotiated the ground rules for Obama transition representatives to gather information on federal agency operations and programs. Obama selected Lu to serve as Cabinet Secretary, making him one of the highest-ranking Asian Americans in the
administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...
, along with
Secretary of Commerce The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...
Gary Locke Gary Faye Locke (born January 21, 1950) is an American politician and diplomat serving as the interim president of Bellevue College, the largest of the institutions that make up the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system. Locke serv ...
and Secretary of Energy
Steven Chu Steven Chu At the time of his selection, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reporter Michael Falcone wrote, "By now, Mr. Lu knows the president-elect's record better than almost anyone." Lu's responsibilities included representing Obama's positions to each of the
Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...
secretaries and agencies and coordinating a common White House agenda among them. Marc Ambinder, associate editor of ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', said of Lu, "when agency heads have a problem, or when the White House has a problem with an agency head, Mr. Lu will be the first person who's called, or calls." In July 2009, Lu visited
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
as part of an official delegation for the Obama administration, along with Locke and Chu. Although his parents were born there, it was the first time Lu had set foot on Chinese soil. Lu was introduced to Chinese
Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
Wen Jiabao Wen Jiabao (born 15 September 1942) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the Premier of the State Council from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic policy ...
, who said upon meeting Lu, "I know the name and also the importance of his position." In July 2010, Lu was a member of the official U.S. delegation to the
Shanghai Expo Expo 2010, officially the Expo 2010 Shanghai China, was held on both banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China, from 1 May to 31 October 2010. It was a major World Expo registered by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), in the tr ...
, along with former Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 64th United States secretary of state from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democratic ...
.White House Press Release, "President Obama Announces Presidential Delegation to Shanghai, China to Attend U.S.A. National Day at Expo 2010 Shanghai" (June 29, 2010) On January 8, 2014, Lu was nominated by President Obama to be the Deputy Secretary for the United States Department of Labor. He was unanimously confirmed by the
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...
on April 1, 2014. Lu became the first Asian American to hold the position, and only the second Asian American in history to serve as deputy secretary of a cabinet department, after Elaine Chao. Lu's service in this position ended on January 20, 2017, concurrent with the end of the Obama Administration.


Career after Obama administration

Lu soon took up positions as a Senior Fellow of the
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
Miller Center, specializing in presidential scholarship, and as a Senior Advisor to
FiscalNote FiscalNote Holdings, Inc., or commonly FiscalNote, is a publicly traded software, data, and media company headquartered in Washington, D.C. The company was founded by Timothy Hwang, Gerald Yao, and Jonathan Chen in 2013. FiscalNote provides softwa ...
. He remains heavily involved as a DNC
superdelegate In American politics, a superdelegate is an unpledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention who is seated automatically and chooses for themselves for whom they vote. These Democratic Party superdelegates (who make up slightly under 15 ...
and co-chaired DNC Chairman
Tom Perez Thomas Edward Perez (born October 7, 1961) is an American politician and attorney who served as the Chair of the Democratic National Committee from February 2017 until January 2021. Perez was previously Assistant Attorney General for Civil Right ...
's transition committee. In November 2020, Lu was named a volunteer member of the Joe Biden presidential transition Agency Review Team to support transition efforts related to the United States Department of Labor.


Ambassador to United Nations

On April 27, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Lu to serve as Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations for UN Management and Reform. Hearings on his nomination were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 27, 2021. The committee reported his nomination favorably on August 4, 2021. The
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...
confirmed Lu on December 18, 2021 by
voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...
, and he was sworn into office on January 4, 2022.


References


External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lu, Chris 1966 births American politicians of Chinese descent American politicians of Taiwanese descent Harvard Law School alumni Living people Obama administration personnel People from New Jersey People from Rockville, Maryland United States Deputy Secretaries of Labor Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni American lawyers of Chinese descent