John Podesta, the founder of the liberal Center for American Progress (CAP), has been tapped by President Barack Obama to be his Counselor. Podesta will be stepping down from his roles at CAP as he makes the transition back to the White House.
Podesta is currently the Chair of CAP and the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF), the think tank's lobbying arm. Prior to founding the influential think tank in 2003, he served as White House Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton.
As Think Tank Watch recently reported, Podesta just started a new think tank housed within CAP called the Washington Center for Equitable Growth (CEG). He is currently the Chair of that think tank, which has a Steering Committee that includes former top Obama adviser Melody Barnes, and Alan Blinder, former Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Here is CEG's new website.
Here is what CAP President Neera Tanden had to say about Podesta joining the White House.
Center for American Progress (CAP), which has close ties to the Obama Administration, was recently ranked
as the 30th best think tank in the world by the annual University of
Pennsylvania think tank rankings. It was ranked as the 11th best think
tank in the US. It was also ranked as the 2nd best think tank in the
world in terms of best use of the Internet or social media.