Projo Politics Blog

Christine Heenan of East Providence, a former aide in the Bill Clinton White House, was today named vice president for government, community and public affairs at Harvard University.

Heenan, 41, has been most recently president of Clarendon Group, a Providence-based communications consulting company. She has also worked in community relations and policy positions at Brown University and its medical school. And she has taught public policy at the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown.

In the 1990s, Heenan worked at the White House on health care policy issues under Ira Magaziner of Bristol, one of Clinton's top domestic policy experts.

"I am very pleased that Christine Heenan has agreed to serve in this role,'' said Drew Faust, Harvard's president, in announcing the news. "Given Harvard's active engagement with our neighbors, the increasing scrutiny of universities by policy-makers at all levels, and the ever-present need to share with our own community and the broader public a sense of who we are and what we do, this position has never been more important."

Heenan will start the job on Oct. 1. "Harvard's reach, resources, and leadership create both real challenges and unprecedented opportunities, and I am excited to be joining the university at such an important time in its rich and storied history,'' said Heenan.

Heenan is a graduate of Classical High School in Providence and Boston University. She is married to Michael Mello and has two children.

In a related announcement, Clarendon Group said that after Heenan takes her new post, the firm will be run by a new three-member partnership comprising Stacey Paterno, Gary Bliss and Arianne Corrente Lynch.

 Tags  Brown University Christine Heenan Clarendon Group Harvard

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