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> http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/11/23/obama-foundation-secures-office-space-hires-loyalist-in-top-role/ <http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/11/23/obama-foundation-secures-office-space-hires-loyalist-in-top-role/>
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> Obama Foundation Secures Office Space, Hires Loyalist in Top Role
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> 4:08 pm ET
> Nov 23, 2015
> Global <http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/category/global/>
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> Michael Strautmanis, shown in June 2010 when he was a White House aid to Mr. Obama, is leaving an executive position at Walt Disney <http://www.wsj.com/public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=DIS> Co.DIS -0.94% </public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=DIS?mod=inlineTicker>
> Getty Images
> The nonprofit foundation that will direct much of President Barack Obama <http://topics.wsj.com/person/O/barack,-obama/4328>‘s post-White House work has secured office space in Chicago and tapped a longtime loyalist to serve in a top position.
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> The Barack Obama Foundation announced Monday that it had hired Michael A. Strautmanis from the Walt Disney Company to serve as vice president of civic engagement.
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> The foundation will also move to an office in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago early next year, where it will be headquartered until the construction of the Obama Presidential Library and Center is complete in the coming years.
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> With less than 14 months left in Mr. Obama’s term, he and his top aides have sketched the contours of a post-presidential life that includes charitable work with young men of color, a presidential library based in Chicago, a possible book deal, and potential involvement in community organizing.
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> Mr. Strautmanis, a Chicago native who has been Disney’s vice president of corporate citizenship, will join the foundation in January. He has a long history with the Obama family, dating back to his time as a paralegal at the law firm Sidley Austin, where future First Lady Michelle Obama was working as an attorney.
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> Mr. Strautmanis later served on Mr. Obama’s Senate staff and in numerous positions in the White House. He has worked at Disney since leaving government in 2013.
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> “Civic engagement has been at the center of President Obama’s career in public service, from his start as a community organizer on the South Side all the way to the White House. I am honored to bring his unique and effective approach to civic and social change to The Foundation’s work with the vibrant community on the South Side, along with other communities across the city and beyond,” Mr. Strautmanis said in a statement.
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> Among the foundation’s first tasks is to complete a presidential library for Mr. Obama. The library will be located on the South Side of Chicago, but an exact design and site has not been chosen.
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> Beyond the construction of the library, the foundation could also become a vehicle for Mr. Obama’s post-presidential charitable or policy ambitions. The mission statement of the foundation promises to tackle the “great, unfinished project of renewal and global progress.”
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> President Bill Clinton created a personal foundation after leaving office in 2000 that has been involved in global health and development issues — though its donors and foreign work have sometimes come under scrutiny due to his wife Hillary Clinton’s presidential ambitions and service as secretary of State under Mr. Obama.
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Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Advisors, LLC
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eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com <x-msg://59/eschwerin@obblaw.com>
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