Biden’s personnel chief leaves powerful White House post

President Joe Biden adviser and head of personnel at the White House, Cathy Russell, is leaving her post within the administration after being named the new executive director of UNICEF.

Russell was named as the incoming UNICEF executive director on Friday, with outgoing director Henrietta Fore hailing her successor’s “knowledge, experience, and deep care for children and women.”

Biden described the White House’s loss as “UNICEF’s gain,” and praised Russell’s management of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel for “[breaking] records in both speed and diversity of hiring” since his inauguration earlier this year.

Russell’s position in the White House was a powerful one, with the office in charge of selecting and vetting political appointees for around 4,000 positions. Since Biden became president, Russell’s office has boasted of putting “diversity” at the heart of its operations, in keeping with Biden’s pledge to build an administration that “looks like America.”

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