Marc Short, White House director of legislative and intergovernmental affairs and assistant to President Donald J. Trump, is joining the nonpartisan Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia as a senior fellow, effective August 1.

Short, who previously served as chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence and president of Freedom Partners, will participate in Miller Center conferences and events, engage with faculty and students across the University of Virginia, and contribute to the millercenter.org website and other Miller Center publications.

Short’s appointment as a senior fellow builds on the Miller Center’s rigorous commitment to both nonpartisanship and bipartisanship. Among its hallmarks is gleaning the lessons of history from senior officials of past presidential administrations. He joins a team of other faculty and senior fellows comprised of former officials from both Democratic and Republican administrations, including Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Barack Obama; Mary Kate Cary, speechwriter for President George H. W. Bush; Chris Lu, assistant to the president for cabinet affairs and later deputy secretary of labor under President Obama; Eric Edelman, national security advisor to Vice President Richard Cheney and later undersecretary of defense for policy under President George W. Bush; Philip Zelikow, a senior career diplomat who served in the administrations of Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush; and William Antholis, director of international economic affairs on the National Security Council staff under President Bill Clinton.

”It’s an honor for me to welcome Marc Short to the Miller Center,” said Antholis, Miller Center director and CEO. “Marc is widely respected in both parties. We had the privilege of getting to know Marc through the presidential transition and the Trump administration’s first year, and have been impressed by his professionalism, effectiveness, and collegiality.”

Short, who was born in Virginia, graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1992 and earned an MBA at UVA’s Darden School of Business.

Short’s other public service included roles as a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security; chief of staff for Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison; and an aide to then-Congressman Mike Pence, who named him chief of staff for the House Republican Conference in 2009. Short has also worked for McGuire Woods Consulting and for Freedom Partners, a nonprofit, Koch-funded 501(c)(6) chamber of commerce located in Arlington, Virginia. He served as the organization's president from 2011 to 2016.

L. F. Payne, former Democratic congressman from Charlottesville and a member of the Miller Center Governing Council, worked with Short at McGuire Woods Consulting and praised his collaborative spirit.

Marc is a true professional who believes that the system works best when it brings together voices from across the political spectrum.

L. F. Payne

Gregory Fairchild, director of Northern Virginia operations for the University of Virginia, was one of Short’s professors during his MBA studies at the Darden School of Business.

“Marc's service as an alum has been continuous since his graduation,” Fairchild said. “We look forward to continuing to engage him as he transitions. With our expanding efforts in the Washington region, we can benefit from his good counsel.”