1. Jeffrey Dunston Zients is an American business executive and a government official who served as the 31st White House chief of staff from February 2023 to January 2025 under US president Joe Biden.
26 Facts About Jeff Zients
1. 2.
Jeff Zients joined the Biden administration after taking leave from his position as chief executive officer of Cranemere, an investment firm.
3.
Jeff Zients was a member of Facebook's board of directors from 2018 to 2020.
4.
Jeff Zients was born in Washington, DC, and raised in Kensington, Maryland.
5.
At age 35, Jeff Zients was named to Fortune Magazine's "40 under 40", with an estimated wealth of $149 million.
6.
Jeff Zients was the chief operating officer, chief executive officer, and chairman of the Advisory Board Company and former chairman of the Corporate Executive Board.
7.
Jeff Zients founded and was the managing partner of Portfolio Logic LLC, an investment firm primarily focused on health care and business services.
8.
Jeff Zients was a member of the board of directors of XM Satellite Radio until its 2008 merger, and a board member at Sirius XM Radio until his Senate confirmation.
9.
Jeff Zients sat on the boards of Revolution Health Group and Timbuk2 Designs.
10.
In 2005, Jeff Zients formed a group with Colin Powell and Fred Malek, among others, to compete for the purchase of the Washington Nationals.
11.
The group planned for Malek to be the managing partner for the first three years, after which Jeff Zients would take over.
12.
Jeff Zients's nomination was approved by the Senate in June 2009.
13.
Jeff Zients was the acting director of OMB from July 2010 to November 2010, and again from January 2012 to April 2013.
14.
From 2014 to 2017, Jeff Zients was an assistant to the president for economic policy and director of the National Economic Council.
15.
At the NEC, Jeff Zients worked with the Department of Labor to finalize the fiduciary rule, known as the conflict of interest rule.
16.
In 2015, while NEC director, Jeff Zients described the Trans-Pacific Partnership as "a massive tax cut for American businesses".
17.
Jeff Zients joined Facebook's board of directors in 2018, following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
18.
Jeff Zients was paid $100,000 in cash and roughly $300,000 in stock in exchange for his work on Facebook's audit committee.
19.
Jeff Zients was accused of deleting emails from his personal account that were relevant to the 2018 shareholder lawsuit, in violation of a litigation hold.
20.
Jeff Zients was the CEO of the Wall Street investment firm Cranemere, an investment firm owned by Vincent Mai, for which he earned a combined salary and bonus of $1.6 million.
21.
Jeff Zients was described as "an important power center in the Biden transition team" and noted as a candidate for several positions in the incoming administration.
22.
In July 2021, Jeff Zients came under criticism for delaying the relaxation of travel restrictions between the US and Europe.
23.
In March 2022, Jeff Zients announced he would be leaving the Biden administration in April, to be succeeded as Coronavirus Response Coordinator by Ashish Jha.
24.
Jeff Zients was mentioned in an antisemitic flyer that originated in Australia in July 2022.
25.
On January 22,2023, it was reported that Jeff Zients would replace Ron Klain as the White House chief of staff in February.
26.
On February 8,2023, following President Joe Biden's State of the Union Address the previous night, Jeff Zients took office to become the 31st White House chief of staff.