Jim Messina
Director
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The mastermind behind President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, Jim Messina seized the reins on what Bloomberg Businessweek dubbed “the highest-wattage crash course in executive management ever undertaken”—and succeeded, earning the President another term in the White House. With the guidance of technology’s foremost leaders, Messina abandoned every step of a traditional presidential campaign and merged technology and politics in a way that was both unpredictable and unprecedented. Messina’s strategies established the modern presidential campaign—Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt called it “the best-run campaign ever.” The American Association of Political Consultants later crowned him the Campaign Strategist of the Year.
In January 2013, the Obama administration announced the launch of Organizing for Action, a new advocacy organization that will promote President Obama’s policies, with Jim Messina as national director.
In 2013, Messina also launched The Messina Group. In this role, Messina provides strategic consulting to political campaigns, advocacy organizations and businesses. In this capacity, Messina served as senior advisor to Prime Minister David Cameron for his successful 2015 re-election.
Jim Messina served as Deputy Chief of Staff to President Barack H. Obama from 2009 to 2011, where he was integral to the passage of the landmark health care and economic stimulus bills, in addition to serving as the campaign manager for Obama’s successful 2012 re-election campaign. He previously served as Director of Personnel for the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition and as national chief of staff for Obama for America in 2008.
Messina joined the Obama campaign from the office of U.S. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), where he was chief of staff. He previously held the same position for U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY).
He has overseen and consulted on political campaigns across the country, from Alaska to New York. He is a graduate of the University of Montana and attended high school in Boise, Idaho.