Transition Lab

John Podesta served as President Bill Clinton’s White House chief of staff from 1998 to 2001, founded the Center for American Progress, was the co-chair of Barack Obama’s presidential transition in 2008-2009 and chaired Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016 while overseeing her pre-election transition activities. Podesta talked to Transition Lab Host David Marchick about his transition e...

This week’s episode of Transition Lab features three leaders from the Partnership for Public Service. One is special guest host Loren DeJonge Schulman, a national security expert who spent 10 years at the Defense Department and National Security Council, most recently as the senior advisor to National Security Advisor Susan Rice during the Obama administration. Currently, she serves as the vice pr...

On October 2, the Center for Presidential Transition, the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, and several presidential foundations and libraries hosted a virtual conference called “Talking Transitions: Perspectives for First-term and Second-term Administrations.” The event included former government officials, journalists and scholars to discuss managing presidential transitions during nationa...

Stephen Hadley held key national security positions in three Republican administrations before working on the George W. Bush transition in 2000-2001 and serving as Bush’s national security advisor. Kurt Campbell is an expert on East Asian affairs who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations, and co-authored, “Difficult Transitions: Foreign Policy Troubles at the Outset of Presidential Power...

Michael Froman has had an extraordinary career. After serving in the Department of the Treasury under President Clinton, he became the head of personnel for the 2008 Obama-Biden transition team and later served as a White House deputy national security advisor and as the U.S. Trade Representative. In this episode of Transition Lab, host David Marchick asks Froman for an inside look at the world of...

John Dickerson has covered Washington politics for more than two decades as a reporter for Time, Slate Magazine and CBS News. He previously hosted Face the Nation, currently works as a correspondent for 60 Minutes and is the recent author of “The Hardest Job in the World: The American Presidency,” which examines the complex challenges faced by our nation’s chief executives throughout history. In t...

Agency review – the process of informing new administrations about the work of the federal government’s various departments – is a critical aspect of presidential transition planning. In this episode of Transition Lab, host David Marchick speaks to Lisa Brown, co-chair of agency review for the 2008 Obama-Biden transition team. Marchick and Brown discuss how this process works, why it is so importa...

Since launching in January 2020, Transition Lab has offered a close look at the world of presidential transition planning, featuring in-depth interviews with those who have organized, led and written about some of the most notable transfers of power in U.S. history. In this episode, host David Marchick shares the most important takeaways, poignant stories and surprising moments from these intervie...

Marchick asks Meier and Bagger about how they prepare to lead their respective transition teams.

Nancy Cook and Andrew Restuccia know all about presidential transitions. They currently write about transition planning and presidential politics for Politico and the Wall Street Journal, respectively, and previously collaborated on several transition stories during the 2016 election. In this Transition Lab episode, host David Marchick asked Cook and Restuccia about their experiences covering pres...

Josh Bolten and Denis McDonough discuss how they helped orchestrate successful transfers of power, fostered bipartisanship during those difficult times and helped set the standard for successful transitions today.

David Marchick joined former Acting CIA Director Michael Morell for a wide-ranging discussion about intelligence-sharing during presidential elections and transitions, foreign interference during presidential elections, and how the 2020 candidates can build strong relationships with the intelligence community.

Mary Gibert has one of the most important jobs in Washington today, preparing the federal government for a possible presidential transition. As the federal transition coordinator at the General Services Administration, Gibert and her team are working closely with the White House, the campaign of Democrat Joseph Biden and the federal agencies. In this Transition Lab episode, host David Marchick spe...

Rev. Leah Daughtry and Maria Cino discuss the role of conventions in political campaigns, whether they give a boost to the candidates, and how the COVID-19 pandemic will change conventions this year and in the future.

Jamie Jones Miller and Nina Hachigian talk with host David Marchick about their careers in government, how they handled uncomfortable situations and the importance of bringing more women into leadership positions.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie explains how he planned the Trump transition and where it went wrong.

Jonathan McBride and Liza Wright, former directors of the PPO under Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush share their advice on how to land a political appointment.

Clay Johnson, the executive director of Bush’s transition, tells host Dave Marchick how Bush brought many of his personnel practices as Texas governor to Washington during the shortest official transition in history at just 39 days.

Former White House Chief of Staff and Cabinet Secretary James Baker joins host David Marchick on Transition Lab to discuss his long and distinguished career on the national stage.

Powerhouse attorneys Leslie Kiernan and Robert Rizzi explain how political appointees navigate the vetting process when seeking a political appointment.

Historian Ted Widmer tells host David Marchick about Lincoln's two-week train ride from Illinois to Washington, D.C. in February 1861 that helped him find his voice, build public support, and set the tone for his presidency.

President Herbert Hoover and President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt failed to cooperate in any matter during the four-month transition that occurred in the midst of the Great Depression.

Mack McLarty, former White House chief of staff, shared insights on the Clinton transition as well as President Clinton’s first year in office, as well as the privilege of serving alongside the president, a friend from childhood. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Filmmaker Ken Burns and historian Geoffrey Ward share stories with Transition Lab about the biggest crises in our nation’s history and how our past informs the present.

Professor Michael Nelson, an expert on the American presidency, joins Transition Lab to discuss the political dynamics that define a president’s first and second term. Nelson explains how new presidents can maximize their impact during their first year in office and outlines the challenges two-term presidents face during their fifth year. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Califor...