Jen Psaki returns to the White House as communications director

Jen Psaki of Greenwich is the new White House Communications Director.

Jen Psaki of Greenwich is the new White House Communications Director.

Jennifer Psaki is the new White House communications director, a post that assures the young Greenwich High School graduate a seat at the table for all the major issues confronting President Obama in his last two years in office.

For Psaki, the new assignment is a return to the White House where she worked as deputy press secretary and deputy communications director in Obama’s first term. She replaces departing communications director Jennifer Palmieri, whom the president described as  “ irreplaceable — if Jen Psaki hadn’t agreed to step in.”

Psaki, a 1996 Greenwich H.S. grad, worked on both Obama presidential campaigns and became press spokeswoman for Secretary of State John Kerry in the second term. She departed the Obama inner circle briefly in 2011 to work for Global Strategy Group, a New York-based public affairs firm.

At Greenwich High School, Psaki was captain of the swim team. She subsequently graduated from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

“I fully trust Jen — and I am thrilled she’s agreed to come back to the White House as Communications Director,” the president said in a statement Thursday.

Daniel Freedman