Help President Obama lead the nation.

The Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute is leading a community-wide effort to identify strong LGBT candidates to serve in the Obama administration.   

The Presidential Appointments Project serves as the talent bank for openly LGBT professionals seeking appointed positions in the next presidential administration.  If you’ve ever considered working for the federal government, now is the time to start thinking about whether you have what it takes to work for the president to help change our country.   

While Barack Obama will lay out a broad agenda to move the country forward, his staff will actually undertake the hard work of implementation.  Appointed officials have the power to set or influence the policies of the many federal departments and administrative agencies that make up the executive branch of government.  

The Project will ensure that qualified, committed and talented members of the LGBT community have a fair shot at being appointed to important federal positions.

For more answers to common questions about the Presidential Appointments Project, read our FAQ. 

As of now, the following LGBT leaders have secured spots in the Obama administration:

• Judy Applebaum - Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legislative Affairs
  
• Vic Basile - Senior Counselor to the Director, Office of Personnel Management
  
• Anthony Bernal - Scheduler, Office of Dr. Jill Biden
• Jeremy Bernard - White House Liaison, National Endowment for the Humanities
• John Berry - Director-Designate, Office of Personnel Management
• Brian Bond - Deputy Director, White House Office of Public Liaison
• Raphael Bostic - Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, Housing and Urban Development
  
• Peter Burleigh, Interim Ambassador to India
• Ebs Burnough - Deputy Social Secretary, Office of the First Lady
• Michael Camunez - Special Assistant to the President, Office of Presidential Personnel
• Brook Colangelo - Chief Information Officer, White House Office of Administration
• Jeffrey S. Crowley, MPH, Director of Office of National AIDS Policy
  
• Fred Davie - Policy Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
• Marisa Demeo - Associate Judge, DC Superior Court
• Eric Fanning - Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for White House Liaison
  
• Kathy Greenlee - Assistant Secretary, Administration on Aging, Department of Health and Human Services
  
• Emily Hewitt, Chief Justice, U.S. Court of Federal Claims
  
• Fred Hochberg - Chairman-Designate, U.S. Export-Import Bank
• Shin Inouye - Director, Specialty Media
• Karine Jean-Pierre - Regional Director, Office of Political Affairs
  
• Kevin Jennings - Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Safe & Drug Free Schools, Department of Education
  
• Kristina Johnson - Under Secretary of Energy
• Elaine Kaplan - General Counsel, Office of Personnel Management
• Brad Kiley - Director, White House Office of Management and Administration
• Harry Knox - Member, Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
• Kei Koizumi - Assistant Director for Federal Research and Development, Office of Science and Technology Policy
• Jeffrey Lerner - Regional Director, Office of Political Affairs
• Mercedes Marquez - Assistant Secretary, Community Planning and Development
  
• Kathy Martinez - Assistant Secretary of Disability Employment Policy, Department of Labor
• Mary Beth Maxwell - Senior Advisor, Department of Labor
• David Medina - Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the First Lady
• Alison Nathan -  Assoc. Counsel, Office of White House Counsel
• Jeff Neal - Chief Human Capital Officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• Ven Neralla - Director of Priority Placement, Presidential Personnel
• Dave Noble - White House Liaison, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• Mark Perriello - Director of Priority Placement, Presidential Personnel
• Ellie Sue Schafer - Director, White House Visitors Office
  
• Campbell Spencer - Regional Director, Office of Political Affairs
  
• Nancy Sutley – Chair, White House Council on Environmental Quality
• Moe Vela - Director of Operations, Office of the Vice President

How the Project Works: 

Step 1: Decide if you have what it takes.

These are just some of the factors you should consider before applying to the Presidential Appointments Project:

• The hours are long and the pace intense.
• There is much public/press scrutiny.
• Most applicants under serious consideration for an appointment will go through a full FBI background check in which their employment, professional, personal, travel, medical, financial, legal, military and educational histories will be reviewed and scrutinized.
• The financial holdings and sources of income for most applicants under serious consideration must be disclosed for review for possible conflicts of interest.
• Most appointees’ dealings with the Federal government during and for a period of time after their service will be significantly restricted to prevent possible conflicts of interest.
• Before starting the application process, please have all of your education information, employment information, references, and desired appointment position available.  In addition, please ensure that enough time is set aside to complete the application in one setting.  Not doing so will result in multiple application submissions that will delay the processing of your application.  Estimated time needed to complete application: 30 minutes.
  
• Please keep in mind that space on the application is limited.  There is only space allotted to provide the three most recent places and degrees of education, recent places of employment, and references.  Please DO NOT complete an additional application in order to include all of this information.  There will be ample opportunity to provide in-depth information in your resume.
  
  

Step 2: Complete the application ….and email your resume to presidential@glli.org.

Step 3: The Institute will present qualified applications to the president elect's transition team.

Disclaimer: GLLI has no authority or official role whatsoever with respect to hiring any personnel in the federal government. Your participation in this program does not mean that GLLI will recommend you for any position or that you will in any way be advantaged in the appointment or nomination process for any such position.