http://www.npr.org/2011/03/04/134264526/a-new-white-house-social-secretary-and-a-new-first?sc=emaf
When first lady Michelle Obama went looking for a new White House social secretary, she did not choose someone with years of experience throwing parties in Washington.
Instead, she tapped Jeremy Bernard, who has spent most of his adult life in Los Angeles. Bernard is currently chief of staff to the U.S. ambassador in Paris. But those are not the most unusual aspects of his appointment.
In a job that has always been held by women, Bernard is breaking the gender barrier.
‘A Mix Of Substance And Style’
Liz Perry and Marc Nathanson live on opposite sides of the country. Perry has known Jeremy Bernard only a couple of years; Nathanson has known Bernard a couple of decades. Yet they describe the new White House social secretary almost exactly the same way.
“He and I were the last to go through the buffet line because we were talking to everybody,” says Perry, who first met Bernard at a dinner party. “And I thought, ‘Oh! He likes to meet everyone at a party, too!’ ”
At that point, Bernard was the White House’s liaison to the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Rewind 20 years, when Bernard was 30 and working far down the totem pole, as an administrative assistant to Los Angeles businessman Marc Nathanson.
“He never stopped working. He never stopped socializing,” says Nathanson. “But I don’t mean socializing in a phony way — he actually liked people, liked to network, and particularly people who had a passion on politics.”
That’s a requirement for a job where Bernard will throw hundreds of White House events a year, from state dinners to Broadway cabarets.
“The White House social secretary has to blend a mix of substance and style,” says Gordon Johndroe, who used to be a spokesman for first lady Laura Bush.