This article is about the White House Chief of Staff. For the former Florida politician, see Ron Klein. For similarly named people, see Ron Klein (disambiguation).
Klain joined the Clinton-Gore campaign in 1992 and was involved in both of Bill Clinton's presidential campaigns.[16] He oversaw Clinton's judicial nominations. In the White House, Klain was Associate Counsel to the President, directing judicial selection efforts and leading the team that won confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.[16] In 1994, he became Chief of Staff and Counselor to Attorney General Janet Reno and in 1995, Chief of Staff to Al Gore.[17]
Gore campaign 1999–2000
Klain continued to serve as Gore’s Chief of Staff following the official launch of Gore’s presidential campaign on June 16, 1999.[18] On August 2, 1999, Klain resigned from the role to join the Washington, D.C., office of O'Melveny & Myers, a law firm.[19][20] In 2000, Klain returned to the Gore campaign, which named him General Counsel of Gore's Recount Committee.[3]
Klain prepping President Obama for a presidential debate in 2012. John Kerry (center) played the role of Mitt Romney.
During the early primaries of the 2004 presidential campaign, Klain worked as an adviser to Wesley Clark during Clark's run for president. After John Kerry won the Democratic nomination, Klain became heavily involved behind the scenes in his campaign.[22]
Klain served as an informal adviser to Evan Bayh who is from Klain's home state of Indiana. In 2005, Klain left his partnership at O'Melveny & Myers to become Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Revolution LLC, a technology venture capital firm launched by AOL co-founder Steve Case.[3] At the time of his October 2014 appointment as Ebola response coordinator, he was General Counsel at Revolution LLC and President of Case Holdings.[23]
Obama administration 2008–2015
Klain briefing President Obama in his role as Ebola Response Coordinator
Klain was mentioned as a possible replacement for White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel,[29] but opted to leave the White House for a position in the private sector in January 2011.[27]
In 2011, amid concerns about whether the now-defunct solar-panel company Solyndra was viable, Klain approved an Obama visit, stating, "The reality is that if POTUS visited 10 such places over the next 10 months, probably a few will be belly-up by election day 2012."[30]
On October 17, 2014, Klain was appointed the "Ebola response coordinator" sometimes referred to as Ebola "czar."[31][32][33] Although Klain, according to Julie Hirschfeld Davis writing in The New York Times, had "no record or expertise in Ebola specifically or public health in general,"[32] the choice was praised by Ezra Klein for his bureaucratic experience with coordinating agencies.[34][35] His term as Ebola response coordinator ended in February 2015.
After leaving the Obama administration, Klain worked as an external adviser to the Skoll Foundation Global Threats Fund[36] and was Executive Vice President and General Counsel at the investment firm Revolution LLC.[37][38]
Klain is married to Monica Medina, an attorney, consultant, and co-founder of Our Daily Planet, an environmental news platform.[41] They have three children, Hannah, Michael, and Daniel.[42][8]
In financial disclosures Klain reported owning assets worth between $4.4m and $12.2m in 2021 compared to between $1.4m and $3.5m in 2009. He received a salary of almost $2m in 2020 from the venture capital firm Revolution LLC, where he served as general counsel and executive vice president.[43][44] In 2009, he reported earning a salary of $1m.[43]
^"Student Honors". Indiana Jewish Post. Indianapolis, Indiana. June 18, 1976. p. 15. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
^"Ron Klain". Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service McCourt School of Public Policy. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
^ abc"Ron Klain". Washington Post Politics. Archived from the original on January 8, 2019. Retrieved January 8, 2019.