Quick Wiki
- Full Name Yohannes Abraham
- Occupation White House Official
- Nationality American
- Birthplace Virginia, USA
Yohannes Abraham | Biography
Abraham was appointed as the Chief of Staff and Executive Secretary in the White House National Security Council on 20 January 2021In late December 2020, Abraham criticized Former President Donald Trump's Office of Management and Budget administration. He accused the department of obstructing communication between career civil employees and new government officials. He claimed that the agency was impeding Biden's ability to build an effective economic response to the coronavirus pandemic and its massive financial consequences.
Yohannes Abraham is a well-known White House official currently serving as its National Security Council's Chief of Staff and Executive Secretary.
Who is Yohannes Abraham?
Yohannes Abraham is an active Democrat official who served a substantial stint at various capacities in the White House during the Obama-Biden administration and the present Biden-Harris administration.
During the Obama-Biden government, Abraham served as the Chief of Staff at the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs and Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the National Economic Council at the White House. Presently, he is working as the Chief of Staff and Executive Secretary in the White House National Security Council in the Biden-Harris government.
Early Life and Education
Abraham is from Springfield, Virginia. He did his schooling at Westminster School and graduated in 1999. Thereafter, he attended Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. After completing his high school studies, Abraham enrolled at Yale University to pursue BA in Political Science.
Abraham then joined Harvard Business School for a Juris Doctor degree. He graduated with distinction from Harvard with the honor of George F. Baker Scholar, which means the top 5% of the class.
Obama-Biden Administration
From 2007 to 2008, Abraham served as the Virginia Field Director for the then-Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign, Obama for America. He hired, trained, and managed more than 120 people across Virginia and helped Democrats win the election for the first time in 44 years. Following that, Abraham began working at the White House as a Legislative Assistant in 2009, during Obama's first term as the President of the USA and continued till 2010. During his time in office, he witnessed the approval of the Affordable Care Act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, among other crucial Presidential agendas.
Consequently, he joined the Democratic National Committee as a National Political Director at Organizing for America in May 2010 and left in 2011 to campaign for former President Barack Obama's re-election. In 2011, he catapulted the Obama for America campaign as Deputy National Political Director, which he held until 2012. Abraham was one of the first-priority hires for the 2012 re-election campaign.
Successively, he worked as a Chief of Staff at the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs from 2013 until 2017. He oversaw the budgeting, staffing, planning, including daily operations for a team of more than 40 personnel in coordination with private groups, organized labor, state and local governments, and advocacy groups. The coordination was to ensure the spread of President Obama's policy priorities. Furthermore, from 2015 to 2017, he functioned as a Deputy Assistant to the then-President Barack Obama and Senior Advisor to the National Economic Council at the White House.
Abraham was next recruited as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Advisor at The Obama Foundation from 2017 to 2018. He was an acting COO during the inception phase of the Obama Foundation. Abraham was also responsible for human resource and technical operations, including IT. Later, he joined Harvard Kennedy School as a fellow in 2017 and has been an Adjunct Lecturer at Harvard since 2018.
Biden-Harris Administration
During the Biden-Harris Administration, Abraham was appointed as the Chief of Staff and Executive Secretary in the White House National Security Council on 20 January 2021. He is in charge of planning for the implementation of the Biden-Harris policy and personnel and management issues.
Criticism on the OMB during administration transition
In late December 2020, Abraham criticized Former President Donald Trump's Office of Management and Budget administration. He accused the department of obstructing communication between career civil employees and new government officials.
His main grievance was the White House budget office's opposition after Biden's team took over the administration. "Transition officials have encountered obstruction from political leadership at various agencies, most notably at the Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)," Abraham said in a virtual news briefing.
OMB, on the other hand, denied the allegations. But, Abraham fixated on the repercussions of OMB's alleged refusal to comply with the transition team, claiming that the agency was impeding Biden's ability to build an effective economic response to the coronavirus pandemic and its massive financial consequences.
Personal Life
Abraham lives in Alexandria, Virginia, and is a member of the Virginia Community College System's Board of Visitors.
