Philip M. Schiliro is an American political consultant and strategist. He has spent much of his career on the staff of prominent elected officials, including President

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 ...

. Schiliro was born August 6, 1956 in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and grew up on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. Schiliro graduated from

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of Ne ...

and

Lewis & Clark Law School The Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College (also known as Lewis & Clark Law School), is an American Bar Association-approved private law school in Portland, Oregon. The law school received ABA approval in 1970 and joined the Asso ...

, where he was editor-in-chief of

Environmental Law Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...

. From the early 1980s until 2008, he served in a number of congressional staff positions, notably as Democratic Chief of Staff for the

United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 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 ...

and as chief of staff to

Representative Representative may refer to: Politics *Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people *House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities *Legislator, someon ...

Henry Waxman. In 2004, he worked as policy director for Senate Democratic leader

Tom Daschle Thomas Andrew Daschle ( ; born December 9, 1947) is an American politician and lobbyist who served as a United States senator from South Dakota from 1987 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he became U.S. Senate Minority Leader in 1995 an ...

. In

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

Schiliro ran unsuccessfully to represent New York's 4th District in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

, narrowly losing a race to represent the newly redrawn Nassau County-based seat to Hempstead Town Councilman

David A. Levy David A. Levy (born December 18, 1953) is an American Republican politician, lawyer and former member of the United States House of Representatives from New York. Education and early career Levy is a graduate of Hofstra University, Village o ...

. He held four different positions under President Obama. Before the President took office, Schiliro was director of congressional relations for Obama's

presidential transition team In the United States, a presidential transition is the process during which the president-elect of the United States prepares to take over the administration of the federal government of the United States from the incumbent President of the Un ...

. From 2009 to February 2011, he served as Assistant to the President and Director of Legislative Affairs. From February to December 2011 he was an Assistant to the President and Special Advisor. He left to become a private consultant. In December 2013 the White House announced that he was rejoining the President's staff on a short-term basis to work on health care issues. He stepped down in May 2014. Since leaving government, Schiliro has been involved in several initiatives. He has co-founded Schiliro Barnett, a consulting firm; Co-Equal, a non-profit initiative aimed at strengthening Congress as a co-equal branch of government; and Grow New Mexico, a non-profit devoted to community development in that state. He holds an appointment as a senior presidential fellow at the Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency at Hofstra University. He and his wife, Jody, have one daughter.

References

External links

*
The New Team: Phil Schiliro
Michael Falcone, ''

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 ...

'', December 9, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Schiliro, Phil Assistants to the President of the United States Obama administration personnel Hofstra University alumni Lewis & Clark Law School alumni Living people Political chiefs of staff United States congressional aides 1956 births People from Brooklyn New York (state) Democrats