Karen Richardson

Why She Matters

President Obama has pledged to overhaul the American health-care system, and it’s Richardson’s job to get key interest groups on board.

A former Obama Senate staffer, Richardson is outreach coordinator for the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Health Reform, the office that hopes to oversee a remaking of American health care.

Richardson will run a public-relations offensive designed to woo the groups that could make or break health-care reform. Those groups include doctors, health-insurance companies, business interests and more.

In order to win over these stakeholder’s, Richardson has been assigned out indefinitely to Valerie Jarrett's White House Office of Public Engagement (formerly known as the Office of Public Liaison), doing outreach related to health-care reform.

Path to Power

Richardson earned her law degree in 2002 from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and went on to receive a master’s in international relations from the London School of Economics in 2003.

After a stint working for UNICEF in Italy,Monroe, Sylvester, Kevin Chappell and Bryan Monroe, “Anatomy of a Moment; How team Obama & Black America Are Making History,” Ebony Magazine, March 2008  Richardson began interning in then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)’s Senate office in August 2005. In November, she was hired as a full-time staff assistant.  By spring 2006, she had been promoted to policy coordinator and was deputy to Policy Director Karen Kornbluh.Legistorm: Karen E. Richardson 
 

Richardson had planned to leave Washington to work in Angola, but she caught “Obama fever,” as she told Ebony Magazine, and joined the Obama campaign. Monroe, Sylvester, Kevin Chappell and Bryan Monroe, “Anatomy of a Moment; How team Obama & Black America Are Making History,” Ebony Magazine, March 2008

“When they asked me to stay on, I was sort of on a different course," she told Ebony. "But being on the Senate staff with him, you knew there was something special happening. All that combined to keep me there. It just felt right."“HUSL Alumna Succedds as Barack Obama’s Iowa State Policy Director,” Howard University Law School Faculty Highlights, February 2008 

She left for Iowa in April 2007, where she was state policy director for Obama’s fledgling presidential campaign.
Richardson remained in Des Moines until January 2008, when Obama won the Iowa caucuses.

After a few weeks at campaign headquarters in Chicago, Richardson headed to South Carolina for the late-January 2008 primary and then on to Ohio to prepare for that state’s March primary.Ratliff, Jake, “Obama Office Sets Up Shop,” The Daily Tar Heel, April 7, 2008   5

As primary season wore on, Richardson moved from state to state, ending as policy director in North Carolina, a key battleground state which Obama went on to win.Pedraza, Rick, “Obama Forms Congressional Liaison Team,” Newsmax.com, July 7, 2008 

In July 2008, Obama named Richardson to his campaign’s congressional liaison team to connect with congressional Democrats.“News release: Secretary Sebelius Announces HHS Office of Health Reform Personnel,” Health and Human Services Department, May 11, 2009  Richardson then became  policy director for the Democratic National Committee, and stayed in that role after Obama’s inauguration.

In May 2009, Richardson was named to the HHS Office on Health Reform, headed by Jeanne Lambrew.Press release: “President Obama Launches Office of Public Engagement: A New Name, Mission for White house Liaison Office,” www.whitehouse.gov, May 11, 2009    She will be assigned out indefinitely to the White House Office of Public Engagement, headed by Valerie Jarrett.

The Issues

Health-care reform is shaping up to be the signature fight of Obama’s first year in office. 

Richardson is in charge of liaising between the HHS office in charge of implementing reform and the outside interest groups with a stake in the debate. She’ll communicate with representatives of doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, business interests and consumer-advocacy groups.

It’s a crucial role, especially since the health-insurance industry is widely credited with torpedoing Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 1993 health-reform effort.

Richardson’s interest in health policy dates back to her work on the 2008 campaign. As Iowa campaign director, she blogged about the campaign’s health-care proposals, explaining Obama’s cost-cutting ideas to voters.Richardson, Karen, “Policy Blog: Barack’s Health Care Plan,” my.barackobama.com, December 4, 2007  
 

The Network

Richardson worked in Obama’s Senate office with others who have won administration posts, including Robert Gibbs, Joshua Dubois, Dora Hughes, Jon Favreau, Mark Lippert and Reggie Love.  In that office, Richardson was deputy to Karen Kornbluh, who works with John D. Podesta at the Center for American Progress.

At the HHS Office of Health Reform, Richardson works with head Jeanne Lambrew, as well as advisers Michael Hash, Neera Tanden, Meena Seshamani, Jennifer Cannistra and Caya B. Lewis.  Linda Douglass heads communications for the office.

The White house Office of Public Engagement is overseen by Valerie Jarrett and headed by Christina M. Tchen.

Richardson’s godfather is boxing champion Muhammad Ali.