Revelations from the Miller Center's new Obama oral history project (Part I)

Shaun Donovan is the chief executive officer of Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit focused on housing and community development. Donovan served in President Obama’s cabinet for his full eight years in office, as secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from 2009 to 2014 and as director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget from 2014 to 2017. He was commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development from 2004 to 2009. He also served in the Clinton administration as deputy assistant secretary for multifamily housing at HUD and as acting FHA commissioner during the Clinton/Bush presidential transition. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public administration and architecture from Harvard University.

Chris Lu is a James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor at the University of Virginia's Miller Center. During a public service career that has spanned all three branches of the federal government, Lu’s experience includes both domestic and foreign policy as well as the management of complex organizations. During the Biden administration, he served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for management and reform. During the second term of the Obama administration, Lu served as the U.S. deputy secretary of labor. From 2009 to 2013, Lu served as the White House cabinet secretary and assistant to the president, where he was the primary liaison between the White House and the federal agencies. Lu is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School and holds an honorary doctorate from MacMurray College.

Tom Perez spent most of his career in public service, most recently serving from 2023 to 2025 as a senior advisor to President Joe Biden and director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. He began his federal career as a civil rights prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice and eventually served as the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights during President Barack Obama's first term. During Obama's second term, Perez served as U.S. Secretary of Labor. During the Clinton administration, Perez was counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee and led the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. At the state and local levels, he served as labor secretary in Maryland and was the first Latino elected to the Montgomery County Council in Maryland. A graduate of Brown University, Harvard Law School, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Perez is currently a partner at Mayer Brown.

Barbara A. Perry is the J. Wilson Newman Professor of Governance at the Miller Center, where she co-directs the Presidential Oral History Program. She has authored or edited 17 books on presidents, First Ladies, the Kennedy family, the Supreme Court, and civil rights and civil liberties. Perry has conducted more than 150 interviews for the George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama Presidential Oral History Projects; interviewed President Bill Clinton; and directed the Edward Kennedy Oral History Project's conclusion. She served as a U.S. Supreme Court fellow and has worked for both Republican and Democratic members of the Senate. Perry earned a BA in political science from the University of Louisville, an MA in politics, philosophy, and economics from Oxford University, and a PhD in government from the University of Virginia.

William J. Antholis has served as director and CEO of UVA’s Miller Center of Public Affairs since January 2015. In that time, the Miller Center has strengthened its position as the leading nonpartisan research institution on the American presidency and worked with scholars across the University of Virginia to deliver vital research to policymakers and the public. Before coming to the Miller Center, Antholis served as managing director at the Brookings Institution from 2004 to 2014, working directly with Brookings’s president and vice presidents. He served as director of international economic affairs at the National Security Council and the National Economic Council from 1997 to 1999 and also at the State Department’s policy planning staff from 1995 to 1997. Antholis is the author of two books and dozens of articles on U.S. politics, U.S. foreign policy, international organizations, the G8, climate change, and trade. He holds a BA from UVA and a PhD from Yale University.