Louisa Terrell (born August 17, 1969)[1] is an American lawyer and government official. Since 2021, Terrell has served as director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs under President Joe Biden.[2][3][4][5] Prior to this, Terrell served in a variety of government and private sector positions, including as a member of Biden's Senate staff and as a public policy director at Facebook.
Louisa Terrell
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White House Director of Legislative Affairs | |
In office January 20, 2021 – August 1, 2023 | |
President | Joe Biden |
Preceded by | Amy Swonger |
Succeeded by | Shuwanza Goff |
Personal details | |
Born | (1969-08-17) August 17, 1969 (age 54) Delaware, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Education | Tufts University (BA) Boston College (JD) |
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Terrell was born in Delaware on August 17, 1969. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University and a Juris Doctor degree from Boston College Law School.[6][7]
Terrell has known President Joe Biden almost her entire life. She was a classmate of his son Beau Biden from kindergarten on. She has maintained this connection to the Bidens to the present day.[8]
In 2001, she was on the Senate staff of Joe Biden.[9] She was chief of staff for Cory Booker, and advisor to Tom Wheeler. She was a legislative aide to Barack Obama.[9] She was director of federal policy and strategy, at Yahoo, public policy director at Facebook, and was deputy general counsel at McKinsey & Company.[3] She was visiting faculty at the Biden Institute.[10]
Following Joe Biden's inauguration as President of the United States, Terrell was appointed director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. In 2021, she lobbied moderate Republicans and Democrats on the American Jobs Plan, which eventually passed the United States Senate in August 2021 as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.[11][12][13]
Terrell, along with Shalanda Young and Steve Ricchetti, was tapped to lead the Democratic side in negotiations over the 2023 United States debt-ceiling crisis.[14] She is due to depart at the end of July 2023.[15]
Political offices | ||
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Preceded by | White House Director of Legislative Affairs 2021–2023 |
Succeeded by |