Transitions: Planning and staffing a presidency

Christina M. Kinane is an assistant professor of political science and a resident fellow in the Institution of Social and Policy Studies at Yale University. She studies American political institutions and their role in policymaking under separation of powers, with a focus on the political control of the bureaucracy and how presidents strategically use vacancies and acting appointees to promote their policy priorities. Kinane received her PhD in political science from the University of Michigan, where her dissertation research received the 2021 E. E. Schattschneider Award for best dissertation in American government from the American Political Science Association. She also holds an MPA in public and economic policy from the London School of Economics and BAs in political science and economics from UCLA.

Katherine B. McGuire is the chief advocacy officer of the American Psychological Association. She previously served as assistant secretary for congressional and intergovernmental affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor and held senior leadership roles in the U.S. Senate, including staff director of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; staff director of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Securities and Investment; and floor assistant to the Republican Whip. McGuire was also chief of staff in the House of Representatives and also vice president for government affairs at the Business Software Alliance. She holds bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Wyoming and a certificate in executive leadership from Harvard University.

Molly E. Reynolds is a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. She studies Congress with an emphasis on how congressional rules and procedure affect domestic policy outcomes. Her current research projects include work on congressional reform and the congressional budget process. She is the author of Exceptions to the Rule: The Politics of Filibuster Limitations in the U.S. Senate and supervises the maintenance of "Vital Statistics on Congress," Brookings’s long-running resource on the first branch of government. Reynolds received a BA in government from Smith College and a PhD in political science and public policy from the University of Michigan.

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas is a visiting fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and the director of the Katzmann Initiative on Improving Interbranch Relations and Government. She is also a Miller Center practitioner senior fellow, an advisory board member for the White House Transition Project, a fellow with the Center for Presidential Transition at the Partnership for Public Service, and was secretary of the Governance Institute. Tenpas is a scholar of the American presidency focused on White House staffing, presidential transitions, and the intersection of politics and policy within the presidency (e.g., presidential reelection campaigns, trends in presidential travel, and polling).

Louisa Terrell previously served as President Biden’s director of legislative affairs from January 2021 to August 2023. She was also a senior advisor to the Harris Walz campaign and the Democratic National Convention. She currently provides strategic counsel to nonprofits and businesses. Her lengthy career in government includes serving as advisor to Federal Communications Commission Chair Tom Wheeler, chief of staff to Senator Cory Booker, special assistant to President Obama in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, and deputy chief of staff and judiciary committee counsel to then-Senator Joe Biden. In addition to her public service, Terrell has worked in the private sector as deputy general counsel and head of public affairs for McKinsey & Company and as the executive director of the Biden Foundation. She received her undergraduate degree from Tufts University and a JD from Boston College Law School. She is currently a visiting fellow for the Tisch College of Civic Life, Tufts University.

Peter Wehner is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and a contributing writer for the Atlantic. He writes on politics and political ideas, on faith and culture, on foreign policy, sports and friendships. Wehner served in three presidential administrations, including as deputy director of presidential speechwriting for President George W. Bush. Later, he served as the director of the Office of Strategic Initiatives. He is a graduate of the University of Washington and the editor or author of six books, including The Death of Politics: How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump.

William J. Antholis is a nonresident senior fellow in governance studies at Brookings and 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. Antholis is the author of Inside Out India and China: Local Politics Go Global (2013) and co-author (with Strobe Talbott) of Fast Forward: Ethics and Politics in the Age of Global Warming (2010). He has published articles, book chapters, and opinion pieces on U.S. politics, U.S. foreign policy, international organizations, the G8, climate change, and trade.

Sarah A. Binder is senior fellow in governance studies at Brookings and a professor of political science at George Washington University, specializing in Congress and legislative politics and Congress’s relationship with the Federal Reserve. Her books include The Myth of Independence: How Congress Governs the Federal Reserve, co-authored with Mark Spindel; Minority Rights, Majority Rule: Partisanship and the Development of Congress; Politics or Principle? Filibustering in the United States Senate; Stalemate: Causes and Consequences of Legislative Gridlock; and Advice and Dissent: The Struggle to Shape the Federal Judiciary, co-authored with Forrest Maltzman. Binder received her PhD in political science from the University of Minnesota in 1995 and a BA from Yale University in 1986.