People in the news

Desiree Rogers

CEO, Johnson Publishing Co.

(Bill O'Leary/TWP)

Why She Matters

Rogers is a former professional networker, so it seemed fitting that she became the White House social secretary, until criticism of her role in allowing gatecrashers into the Obama's first state dinner led to her resignation in February 2010.

Rogers came to the White House after a career in business. She headed up a social networking site launched by Allstate Financial, and before that, she spent more than a decade working for Peoples Energy Corp., first as the chief marketing officer for the parent company and later as the president of Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas in Chicago.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Former White House Social Secretary (January 2009-March 2010); President of social networking for Allstate Financial (2008); President of Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas (2004 to 2008); Senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Peoples Energy Corp. (1997 to 2004)
Birthday: June 1959
Hometown: New Orleans, La.

Alma Mater: Wellesley College, B.A. (political science); Harvard University, M.B.A.
Spouse: Divorced
Web site

Path to Power

Rogers grew up in New Orleans. Her mother ran a day-care center that the family lived above, and her father was a public-school teacher and a city councilman. Rogers earned a degree in political science from Wellesley College in Massachusetts and received an MBA from Harvard Business School. Immediately after graduating, she moved to Chicago and joined AT&T as a customer service manager. Over the next 20 years, she moved from job to job, but stayed in Illinois.

In 1991, Rogers joined the public sector, taking a job as director of the Illinois Lottery. At the time, the lottery's signature game, Lotto, was struggling. Sales dropped 23 percent in 1993, mirroring a nationwide trend (Lotto sales had dropped 48 percent in Michigan, 35 percent in Pennsylvania and 31 percent in Ohio over the previous five years). Rogers oversaw a new marketing campaign with the slogan "Somebody's gonna Lotto It might as well be you," and she created a 1-800 number that people could call to play the lottery using their credit cards (she also set a cap of $520 per person per year so people wouldn't run up large debts). Rogers also emphasized instant-win games and saw lottery revenue increase seven percent in 1995. "We're running a business inside state government," she said. "We can make things happen."

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The Issues

Rogers is a successful businesswoman who jumpstarted the Illinois lottery by running it like a business. During her tenure as president of Peoples Gas, the company was accused of conspiring with Enron Corp. to overcharge customers. Peoples agreed to a $100-million refund for customers without admitting any wrongdoing. Rogers also dealt with federal and state investigations into Peoples' testing procedures for pipe corrosion. Despite those challenges, she was able to secure a $71 million rate hike for the gas company and included a provision that guaranteed the company received the increase even if gas usage fell short of projections.

Rogers served on a variety of boards and as part of several community groups in Chicago. She was vice-chair of the Lincoln Park Zoo and was on the board of the Museum of Science and Industry. She also served on the board of Northwestern Memorial Foundation and Polk Bros. Foundation, as well as the corporate boards of Equity Residential and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois.

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Brand Obama

In the White House, Rogers emphasized marketing over social planning. "We have the best brand on Earth: the Obama brand," Rogers told the Wall Street Journal. "Our possibilities are endless." She is described as a world-class networker with hundreds of connections in both Chicago and D.C. She defines her job promoting the Obama presidency. "You have to think about it, in my mind, almost like a business," Rogers said. "Otherwise, you never get there. You get caught in linen hell and flower hell, list hell."

Party-Crashers

Rogers's affinity for the limelight was criticized after Virginia socialites Michaele and Tariq Salahi crashed her first state dinner for the Indian prime minister in November 2009. Some said that the flashy social secretary should have had a member of her office manning the security checkpoints instead of attending the dinner herself.

Pictures of the would-be reality TV stars (Michaele was supposedly a candidate for inclusion in Bravo TV's "Real Housewives" series) were splashed all over the media, including one they posted to Facebook in which they hugged Vice President Joseph R. Biden.

The event was a PR disaster for the White House, and Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina released a memo saying it was "clear the White House did not do everything we could have done to assist the U.S. Secret Service."

Messina further suggested that White House staff should have been stationed at the front-gates, along with the Secret Service, reviewing the guests as they entered.

But in her first interview about the incident, Rogers said any suggestion that her staff was not manning the gates when the Salahis entered was "just wrong."

Rogers explained that her staff was at the gate in question, but that when Secret Service agents discovered the Salahis weren't on the guest list, her aides weren't informed. She called "hogwash" claims that she personally should have been at the door greeting guests, and said her primary responsibilities that night were tending to the protocol surrounding the Indian prime minister and his wife.

The Network

Rogers once was married to John W. Rogers Jr., a close friend of Barack Obama who played basketball with Michelle Obama's brother, Craig Robinson, at Princeton. Both Desiree Rogers and John Rogers are prominent in the Chicago business world and served as campaign bundlers in the 2008 presidential race. They maintain a cordial relationship.

Desiree Rogers is also an important member of the Chicago social scene, and she threw a lavish birthday party for Obama adviser Jarrett in November 2008. She is a good friend of First Lady Michelle Obama.

Campaign Contributions

Rogers was a major fundraiser for Barack Obama in 2008. She has been a longtime Democratic donor, giving more than $100,000 to Democrats during her career as a successful businesswoman, including $16,600 to Barack Obama dating back to 1999. She gave $47,950 to candidates, all Democrats, in 2008, and she helped raise more than $200,000 for Obama during that election cycle.

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