Dan Restrepo

Dan Restrepo’s background

Dan Restrepo graduated in 1999, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. His B.A. He obtained it from the University of Virginia in 1993.

Between 1993 and 1996, he was a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he was responsible for issues such as the political transition in Haiti, the various peace negotiations in Central America and the economic crisis that occurred in Mexico. He also worked as an attorney for the Democratic Party in Florida during the vote counting in the 2000 election.

Prior to his time in the White House, he served as Director of The Americas Project at the Center for American Progress, a program founded and directed in politics towards Latin America, as well as in the role of Hispanics in the United States, their future and the implications for progressive politics.

At the White House, he was Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the National Security Council of the United States of America and was also part of the team responsible for maintaining and strengthening ties with the Latino communities and the team of the historic Obama presidential campaign from its first days, helping in the formation of strategies to attract the Hispanic vote, and being a spokesperson in Spanish during the 2008 general election.

As Special Assistant to President Barack Obama, he was also in charge of US policy towards Latin America, Canada and the Caribbean and responsible for organizing President Obama’s five trips to Latin America and his more than 30 meetings with presidents and leaders of the region. He also advised Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, and other senior officials during their travels and interactions in the region.

Dan Restrepo, whose career has combined electoral politics, public policy, law, and communications, has been recognized three years in a row as one of the most influential Latinos in the U.S. Additionally, in April 2009 he made history by being the first person to participate in a White House press conference in Spanish.