Building the Team: Staffing Up, Rebuilding Capacity & Trust

President Biden made ambitious promises to address the country’s polarization born out of discrimination and inequality. The early days of his Administration featured a down payment on this promise with a flurry of executive actions and a record-setting pace for creating his own team, but will he bring about more lasting change with the help of Congress? Will he change the hearts and minds of Americans at large? Watch as our speakers discuss the problems, the promises and the possibilities of Biden’s “Equity Agenda.” This event is the third in a spring series, Examining the First 100 Days of the Biden Administration, that will focus on the most important developments in the early days of the Biden Administration. Guest speakers over the Spring semester will examine the ability of the 46th President and his team to affect change in some of the most vital policy areas that impact all of us. This lecture is presented by the Suffolk University Department of Political Science & Legal Studies, in collaboration with the Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University and hosted by GBH’s Forum Network. Image: Gina Janovitz Design ### Resources See Stephanie Murray’s political coverage at POLITICO, [here.](https://www.politico.eu/author/stephanie-murray/) Learn about Martha Kumar and the White House Transition Project, [here.](https://whitehousetransitionproject.org/) Read a volume edited by Meena Bose on the Office of Management and Budget’s role in presidential policy making that Brookings Institution published in 2020, [here.](https://www.brookings.edu/book/executive-policymaking/) See all of Biden’s Record-Breaking Cabinet Nominees, [In One Chart.](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/bidens-record-breaking-cabinet-in-one-chart/)

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Roger Fisk

Roger Fisk is a global communications and marketing strategist who played a key behind-the-scenes role in the back-to-back electoral victories of President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. Since 2012, Fisk has been applying those tools and lessons to private sector clients all over the world, from insurance companies in Asia, to European cities bidding to host global sporting events, and Fortune 100 companies looking to rejuvenate their messaging culture. Fisk has a deep understanding of 21st century presidential politics, political campaigning and the unprecedented power of information, relationships and marketing. He helps clients engage millions of people in sustained marketing and promotional strategies, using the internet and social media networks to great effect along with older tools like radio, TV and newspapers. During Obama’s campaigns, Roger Fisk initially served as Director of Special Events, where he was directly responsible for coordinating and managing the media’s coverage of over 150 events across the country. He was also in charge of many key Obama media appearances including: 60 Minutes, The Daily Show, Good Morning America, Saturday Night Live, and the historic Race Speech in Philadelphia in 2008. Image: Public Domain

Dr. Meena Bose

Meena Bose is Executive Dean for Public Policy and Public Service Programs, Peter S. Kalikow School of Government, Public Policy and International Affairs, and Director of the Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency, at Hofstra University. Dr. Bose has developed non-partisan courses sponsored by The Washington Center in connection with the national party conventions as well as on key issues in American politics. She also has designed and taught courses for Elderhostel on presidential leadership and American politics. Dr. Bose serves on the editorial board of Political Science Quarterly and has been a guest editor for White House Studies. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Martha Kumar

Martha Kumar is the director of the White House Transition Project and professor emeritus of political science at Towson University.

Stephanie Murray

Stephanie Murray is the author of the POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook and covered breaking news for POLITICO in Washington, D.C.

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