Thomas E. Donilon

Thomas Edward Donilon (born May 14, 1955) is an American lawyer, business executive, and former government official who served as the 22nd National Security Advisor in the Obama administration from 2010 to 2013.

Donilon also worked in the Carter and Clinton administrations, including as chief of staff of the U.S. State Department.

He is now Chairman of the BlackRock Investment Institute, the firm's global think tank.

Originally from Providence, Rhode Island, Donilon spent his early career in Democratic politics and then in foreign policy and national security.

He has advised the presidential campaigns of Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Joe Biden, Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton, designing policy, managing conventions, preparing candidates for debates, and overseeing presidential transitions.

In 1977, he earned a B.A. degree, summa cum laude, from The Catholic University of America, and received the President's Award, the highest honor.

After graduating from Catholic University, Donilon began working in the Carter White House as a staffer in the Congressional Relations Office in 1977.

At age 24, Donilon managed the 1980 Democratic Convention, at which Senator Edward Kennedy challenged President Carter for the nomination.

A profile from 1980 described him as, "one of those Wunderkinder who spring out of nowhere to become driving forces in politics."

Carter successfully defeated Kennedy's challenge for the nomination but lost the general election.

In 1981, Donilon temporarily moved to Atlanta, Georgia to assist the former president's transition to private life.

He served as a lecturer at his alma mater, Catholic University.

In 1983, Donilon took a leave of absence from law school to work on Walter Mondale's presidential campaign, as the national campaign coordinator and convention director.

Donilon helped prepared Mondale for his presidential debates.

Donilon met his wife, Catherine Russell, on the Mondale campaign.

In 1985, he received a J.D. degree at the University of Virginia, where he served on the editorial board of the Virginia Law Review.

Both Russell and Donilon then worked on Joe Biden's 1988 presidential campaign.

After Michael Dukakis won the Democratic nomination, Donilon prepared him for his debates.

During the first Bush administration, Donilon was recruited to the law firm O'Melveny & Myers by Warren Christopher, the firm's senior partner.

In 1992, Donilon was named chief of staff and assistant secretary of state at the U.S. Department of State.

During his tenure in the Clinton administration, Donilon played a leading role in NATO's enlargement and the Dayton Peace Accords, and conducted diplomacy in more than 50 countries.

During the Obama transition, Donilon served together with diplomat Wendy Sherman as Agency Review Team Lead for the State Department.

and then, early in the Obama administration, as Deputy National Security Advisor.

In 1992 Donilon led Bill Clinton's general election debate preparations and served as counsel to the transition directors.

When Warren Christopher became Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton, Donilon worked as his chief of staff and as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, from 1993 to 1996.

In those posts, he traveled to more than 50 countries.

According to The Washington Post, in the Clinton administration, Donilon was "intimately involved in many major foreign policy issues, including negotiating the Bosnian peace agreement and the expansion of NATO."

During the Srebrenica massacre, Donilon advocated intervention and lobbied members of Congress and worked with allies to approve intervention.

Donilon worked as executive vice president for law and policy at Fannie Mae, the federally chartered mortgage finance company, as a registered lobbyist from 1999 through 2005.

Before his appointment to the Obama Administration, Donilon was a partner in the Washington office of the law firm O'Melveny & Myers, where he advised companies and their boards on a range of "sensitive governance, policy, legal and regulatory matters."

In addition, he "led the firm's successful effort to revitalize its pro bono commitment."

Out of government, Donilon continued to participate in foreign policy, including as a member of the House and Senate Majority's National Security Advisory Group, under Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

In 2008, David Axelrod recruited Donilon to head Obama's presidential debate preparation team.

After the election, Obama's pick for chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, recommended that James Jones, Obama's pick for National Security Advisor, hire Donilon as his deputy.

Donilon was named as National Security Advisor on October 8, 2010.

In October 2010, Donilon replaced Jones as National Security Advisor.

Donilon tendered his resignation as National Security Adviser on June 5, 2013, and was succeeded in office by Susan Rice.

Since leaving government, Donilon has served in an advisory role as chair of the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, appointed by Obama; and as vice chairman of the international law firm O'Melveny and Meyers.

During Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, Donilon was co-chair of the Clinton-Kaine Transition Project, as its foreign-policy lead.

Donilon attended La Salle Academy, a Catholic school in Providence, Rhode Island.