Monday, February 2, 2026
ADVT 
International

This Indian-American Leads Hillary Clinton's Agenda Team

Darpan News Desk IANS, 16 Apr, 2015 12:27 PM
    Making her second presidential run, Hillary Clinton has set up a three person team of senior policy advisers headed by Indian-American Maya Harris, a former senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.
     
    The team will help develop an agenda for her presidential campaign that would be unfolded in a series of policy rollouts expected to begin late next month after her early phase of road trips to meet voters, Politico reported.
     
    Two others on the policy team are Ann O'Leary, a former legislative director to Clinton when she was in the Senate; and Jake Sullivan, a top aide to Clinton while she was Secretary of State and a former national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden.
     
    Besides the policy team, Clinton is also likely to keep getting informal advice from another Indian-American Neera Tanden, the current president of CAP and a longtime adviser.
     
    Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta headed President Barack Obama's executive action agenda until earlier this year and was the founder of the CAP.
     
    Harris, 46, has a background in human rights, having served as Vice President of Democracy, Rights and Justice at the Ford Foundation, where she led a team that promoted effective governance, democracy and human rights around the world.
     
    She is the younger sister of Kamala Harris, California's first Indian-American-African attorney general who is now running for Senate.
     
    Their mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a cancer researcher who came to the US from Chennai in 1960, is of Indian descent while their father is from Jamaica.
     
    Harris received her bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley and graduated with distinction from Stanford Law School.
     
     
    At age 29, Harris was recruited to serve as dean and chief executive officer of Lincoln Law School of San Jose making her one of the country's youngest law school deans.
     
    Harris later served as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, of Northern California, where she led the litigation, public education, advocacy, and organizing efforts of the nation's largest ACLU affiliate.
     
    Harris is married to Tony West, who left the Obama administration last September after five years as associate attorney general, the third top official in the Justice Department. They have one daughter, Meena.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    295 victims of MH17 crash identified

    295 victims of MH17 crash identified
    One more victim of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine has been identified, resulting in a total of 295 identified victims, the Dutch ministry of security...

    295 victims of MH17 crash identified

    Al Qaeda warns France after terror attacks

    Al Qaeda warns France after terror attacks
    The Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has issued a warning to France after the country's spate of terror attacks over the past week...

    Al Qaeda warns France after terror attacks

    US rues not sending prominent official to Paris march

    US rues not sending prominent official to Paris march
    The US, facing a barrage of criticism for President Barack Obama's decision not to attend Sunday's anti-terrorism unity march in Paris, admitted Monday that it should have sent a higher profile official....

    US rues not sending prominent official to Paris march

    New vessel to join underwater search for MH370

    New vessel to join underwater search for MH370
    An additional vessel has been commissioned to carry out underwater search activities for the Malaysia Airlines aircraft MH370 missing and untraced since March 2014....

    New vessel to join underwater search for MH370

    Kerry meets Nawaz Sharif, voices support for Pakistan

    Kerry meets Nawaz Sharif, voices support for Pakistan
    US Secretary of State John Kerry assured Pakistan of support in the fight against terrorism and other challenges, during his meeting with Pakistani...

    Kerry meets Nawaz Sharif, voices support for Pakistan

    Over 70 IS militants killed in Iraq

    Over 70 IS militants killed in Iraq
    Over 70 Islamic State (IS) militants were killed Sunday in fierce clashes with joint Iraqi and Kurdish forces backed by US-led coalition aircrafts in northern Iraq....

    Over 70 IS militants killed in Iraq