Jon Finer is the Tsai Senior Leadership Fellow at Yale Law School and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. 

He served four years as President Joseph R. Biden’s Principal Deputy National Security Advisor, advising the President on foreign policy issues and leading the National Security decision-making process and crisis management for the federal government. Finer was awarded the National Security Medal, the president’s highest award for contributions to national security.  

From 2017 to 2020, he was the Global Head of Geo-Political Affairs at Warburg Pincus LLC, a private equity firm, and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.  

Finer served in a range of roles in President Barack Obama administration, including as Chief of Staff to Secretary of State John Kerry and Director of Policy Planning at the US Department of State. He was awarded the Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award, the department’s highest honor. He also worked for four years in the Obama White House, including as Special Adviser for the Middle East and foreign policy speechwriter for Vice President Biden. He was a White House Fellow under Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. 

Prior to entering government, Finer was a foreign and national correspondent for the Washington Post, spending 18 months in Baghdad covering the Iraq War and embedding with the US Marines during the 2003 invasion. He also covered conflicts in Gaza, Georgia, and Israel/Lebanon, the 2004 US Presidential campaign, and the 2004 World Series.