Dan Pfeiffer, one of President Barack Obama’s longest-serving aides, will leave the White House next month.
Pfeiffer, a senior adviser, told Obama he was going to leave the day after State of the Union Address on Air Force One en route to Boise, though he had been thinking about it for a long time, according to a White House official who was knowledgeable of the situation but not authorized to speak publicly as a matter of practice.
Pfeiffer is the last of of circle of close aides who have been with Obama since the start of his first presidential campaign.
“Dan has been beside me on every step of this incredible journey, starting with those earliest days of the campaign in 2007,” Obama said in a statement. “And through it all, he’s been smart, steady, tireless and true to the values we started with. Like everyone else in the White House, I’ve benefited from his political savvy and his advocacy for working people. He’s a good man and a good friend, and I’m going to miss having him just down the hall from me.”
The White House did not indicate who would replace him when he leaves in mid-March.
Pfeiffer served first as communications director and then as a senior adviser who looked for new ways to disseminate the president’s message.
In 2009, Pfeiffer became one of the first government officials to blog the administration’s messages. In 2012, he advocated for the use of Twitter and Instagram. This month, he suggested releasing the full text of the State of The Union Address on Medium in advance of delivery.
Over the last few months, he’s been leading a review about how to combine communication and social media strategies. He met with Silicon Valley experts this week on that project.