Karen Kornbluh

Karen Kornbluh (born 1963) is an American economist, former United States Treasury Department official, and expert on communications policy, international trade and issues affecting working families. She is currently policy director for U.S. Senator Barack Obama.

Obama's decision to hire her in 2004 was seen as a sign of his determination to build an unusually strong staff for a freshman Senator. [ [http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=10838] Great Expectations] A 2007 New York Sun article mentions Kornbluh as one of several former Clinton Administration officials who have joined "the Obama camp," rather than Hillary Rodham Clinton's team, for the 2008 presidential election. [Gerstein, Josh. [http://www.nysun.com/article/47028] Hillary Sees Bill's Allies Fall Away. New York Sun, 1/19/07. Accessed 1/19/07.]

Before joining Obama's staff, Kornbluh founded the Work and Family Program at the New America Foundation, having joined the centrist think tank as a Markle Fellow. [ [http://www.democracyjournal.org/article.php?ID=6484] Democracy: A Journal of Ideas ] She has argued for a modernized social insurance system that would better meet the needs of "juggler families," which are dependent on the incomes of both parents or that of a single parent. [ [http://www.democracyjournal.org/article.php?ID=6484] Democracy: A Journal of Ideas] [Obama, Barack. , Crown, 2006, p. 336. ISBN 0-307-23769-9.] Prominent conservative commentator David Brooks cited Kornbluh's piece on juggler families as one of the notable magazine articles that characterized 2006 as a "year of losing ground," or a time of prounounced anxiety in the United States. [Brooks, David. This Age Of Anxiety, The New York Times, December 17, 2006.] Kornbluh has also published articles on economic policy in such periodicals as The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times and The Washington Post [http://www.tpmcafe.com/user/kkornbluh TPM Cafe Bio] .

Earlier in her career, Kornbluh had served in the Clinton Administration as deputy chief of staff to Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin, working on such issues as e-commerce and international trade [ [http://www.markle.org/markle_programs/project_archives/1999/fellows_newamerica.php] Markle Foundation ] . From 1994 to 1997, she filled several roles at the Federal Communications Commission, culminating in the position of Deputy Chief of the Mass Media Bureau. In that role, she handled digital television matters as well as a variety of other issues before the Bureau. Earlier, she had been Director of the FCC's Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs since February 1997, while the agency was implementing key provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Before that, she served as Assistant Chief of the Commission's International Bureau, helping to negotiate the World Trade Organization Agreement on Basic Telecommunications and leading negotiations for the first satellite agreement between the United States and Mexico. Kornbluh joined the Commission in November 1994 as Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Plans and Policy, working on educational technology and children's television. [ [http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/News_Releases/1997/nrmm7019.html] FCC]

Before her FCC service, Kornbluh had worked for U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) on the staff of the Commerce Committee and its Telecommunications Subcommittee. Prior to her government positions, she was a Telesis management consultant to Fortune 500 high-technology companies, and an economist at Alan Greenspan's economic forecasting firm, Townsend-Greenspan & Co. [ [http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/News_Releases/1997/nrmm7019.html] FCC]

She earned a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College and a Master of Public Policy degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. [ [http://www.markle.org/markle_programs/project_archives/1999/fellows_newamerica.php] Markle Foundation] In 1993, Kornbluh married lawyer James J. Halpert. [New York Times Weddings [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7DB1F3BF93BA15752C1A965958260] . Accessed January 28, 2007.]

External links

* [http://www.newamerica.net/people/karen_kornbluh/recent_work Recent articles by Kornbluh]

Notes