Program Directory

City Club of Cleveland - Valerie Jarrett, Senior Adviser to President Obama

City Club of Cleveland

Jarrett holds the retitled position of Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement, managing the White House Office of Public Engagement, Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, Office of Urban Affairs, and Chairs the White House Council on Women and Girls, and White House Office of Olympic, Paralympic, and Youth Sport. She said that the 2011 report Women in America which the administration produced for the Council on Women and Girls would be used to guide policy-making.

Jarrett has served as an unofficial adviser and counselor to then-Senator Barack Obama on just about everything during the course of the 2008 presidential campaign-something that hasn't changed since the Obama's moved into the White House.

Jarrett has been friends with the Obamas for nearly 20 years. It was this closeness and her ability to be honest with the candidate that earned her the place of confidante, talking to the candidate on a daily basis and helping to steer his campaign message.

May 4, 2012