Murray is currently Vice President Joe Biden’s deputy chief of staff and communications director. | The Washington Post via Getty Images Obama picks Shailagh Murray to replace Pfeiffer Shailagh Murray is currently Vice President Joe Biden’s deputy chief of staff and communications director; Jason Goldman will take over and expand the White House’s digital outreach.

President Barack Obama will name Shailagh Murray, a former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal reporter, to serve as his new senior adviser, and has tapped Jason Goldman, a Silicon Valley veteran, to become the White House’s first-ever chief digital officer.

Murray replaces Dan Pfeiffer as a member of the president’s core team of advisers, and Goldman will take over and expand Pfeiffer’s role overseeing digital outreach by heading up an amped-up Office of Digital Strategy.


Both moves reflect Obama’s efforts to stay a central part of the nation’s political conversation in his final two years even as public focus shifts to the 2016 presidential campaign.

Murray, currently Vice President Joe Biden’s deputy chief of staff and communications director, has worked for Biden since 2011, and in that time developed a trust both within his office and the West Wing for identifying new and effective ways to get attention for the administration’s policies.

“For four years, I’ve relied on Shailagh Murray’s strategic advice and keen ability to cut through the Washington noise to focus on what matters to everyday Americans, and I’m proud to have her as a senior adviser,” Obama said. “She’s been an invaluable asset to Vice President Biden, but fortunately for him – and the country – she’ll still be down the hall.”

While several of Obama’s former top aides have left Washington for Silicon Valley, Goldman is moving the other direction, taking over the new media and digital outreach that had evolved into one of Pfeiffer’s main projects by the time he left earlier this month. Goldman’s résumé includes Google, Medium, and Twitter, where he worked directly with co-founders Ev Williams and Biz Stone, serving as the first “head of product,” supervising managers, designers, an experts in user research and corporate marketing to develop effective outreach strategies.

Goldman, who worked on a two-week engagement project for the White House last month, will report directly to chief of staff Denis McDonough.

“Goldman brings new energy and coveted expertise as someone who’s helped shape the digital age,” Obama said.

With much legislative action stalled in Congress, the White House has decided to put new energy into outreach, through these hires as well as new communications director Jen Psaki, who starts April 1.

The goal, Obama said, is to spend the next 20 months pressing his case that he and his policies saved the economy, and this restructuring and reboot will be part of that.

“Our mission is to use every single tool available to ensure that all Americans can contribute to and benefit from our American resurgence,” he said.

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