Rohini Kosoglu, Kamala Harris’ Longtime Aide Named as Her Domestic Policy Advisor
- The Sri Lankan American is art of an all-women team named to serve the new vice president in the White House.
Rohini Kosoglu, a longtime aide of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has been named as her new Domestic Policy Advisor. She is among top three women named to work with the country’s first woman vice president.
The Sri Lankan-American is a seasoned leader with over 15 years of experience advising elected officials and candidates. She has served in senior roles on national campaigns and Capitol Hill with expertise in managing large and complex organizations.
Kosoglu became Harris’s deputy chief of staff when she first joined the Senate in 2016, and has moved up the ranks of Harris’s inner circle in the years since. Since 2017, Kosoglu served as a senior advisor to Harris in her U.S. Senate office and later in her presidential campaign. She was the first South Asian woman to serve as chief of staff to a U.S. Senator and was notably the only Asian American to serve in that role during her tenure.
In a press statement, Harris described Kosoglu, as an individual “who is not only an expert on some of the most important issues facing the American people, but also one of my closest and most trusted aides from the Senate and presidential campaign.” She continued, “Together with the rest of my team, today’s appointees will work to get this virus under control, open our economy responsibly and make sure it lifts up all Americans, and restore and advance our country’s leadership around the world.”
As chief of staff to Harris’ presidential campaign, Kosoglu managed and oversaw debate preparation, policy, communications, and operations for a team with over three-hundred staff with a $40 million budget. During her role as chief of staff to Harris in the U.S. Senate, her role included directing Harris’ legislative strategy and leadership on key committees, including the Senate Judiciary, Homeland Security and Government Affairs, and Budget Committees. Under her leadership, Kosoglu held a commitment to creating a diverse and representative staff by developing a talent pipeline that led to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies naming Harris’ office as the most diverse on Capitol Hill.
Kosoglu’s career on Capitol Hill has also included leadership positions with leading Democratic Senators, including Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). During her tenure, Kosoglu led negotiations on numerous bipartisan legislation, with a focus on the economy and health care. Most notably, she served as a key advisor during the drafting and passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.
According to her profile on the Harvard website, Kosoglu has received numerous awards for her legislative accomplishments, including the Rising Star Award from the Women’s Campaign Forum and organizations such as Pew Charitable Trust, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and the National Rural Health Association. She has also been a featured speaker for the Democratic National Committee, the National Education Association, and Kauffman Center for Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship.
In 2020, Kosoglu served as a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School leading a weekly discussion on navigating careers in political campaigns and Capitol Hill.
Originally from New Jersey, she received a B.A. in English with Honors from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Legislative Affairs from George Washington University. She currently resides in the Washington D.C. area with her husband and three sons.
Kosoglu’s parents are of Tamil origin from the Jaffna region in Sri Lanka, Dr. Wijeyadevendram Ravindran and Shobhana Ravindran, who live in New Jersey, according to a Nov. 9 NewsIn.Asia article on LankaWeb.com.