Heather Higginbottom

Her first job was with Communities in Schools, a national non-profit organization that pursues strategies to keep students in schools.

Higginbottom worked for former President Bill Clinton on his Summit for America's Future in 1997 as the communities of faith coordinator.

Hill Staffer

She moved to Capitol Hill in 1999 to take a job as the legislative director for Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). When he was nominated to run for president in 2004, she took on the deputy policy director role. After the election, she accepted a position as his policy director in his Senate office.

"Behind her quiet determination is a fierce idealism that's alive, even after more than a decade in politics," Kerry says of his former aide. "She's still at heart the daughter of a family of professors and teachers who love literature and that romanticism hasn't dissipated one bit."

Obama Connection

Higginbottom left to serve as deputy policy director for Obama's presidential campaign in February 2007. She told the National Journal that she had received calls from several campaigns and chose to work with Obama because of the "energy and excitement" surrounding his candidacy.

Higginbottom started as a policy adviser in charge of energy and the environment, but quickly rose to national policy adviser.

She was one of the campaign's representatives at the Democrats' platform-writing summit.

In the campaign, Higginbottom took the policy helm, reporting to David Axelrod. She also played a major role in hiring an eclectic staff, which she said was a direct mandate from Obama. Her relatively low-key approach has been credited with keeping the campaign drama-free and without reported fractures.

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