Chris Lu started his career in August 1991, as Law Clerk for the Honorable Robert E. Cowen in the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. A year later, he joined Sidley Austin LLP as a Litigation Associate -- a role he was in for the next five years.
From March 1997 to February 2005, he worked as Deputy Chief Counsel for Democratic Staff for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, during which time he also took a three month position as Special Communications Advisor for the Kerry/Edwards Presidential Campaign. In February 2005, Chris became the Legislative Director (and then-Acting Chief of Staff) for then-Senator Barack Obama, a role he held until Obama was elected to his first term as President, at which point Chris, too, moved to the White House, filling the role of White House Cabinet Secretary. He worked in this role until February 2013.
Throughout 2013 and 2014, Chris was a Fellow at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, as well as at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy and was a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of the Presidency & Congress (CSPC). In April 2014, Chris once again joined the Obama White House, becoming Deputy Secretary of the Department of Labor.
From February 2017 to present, Chris has worked as both a Senior Fellow at the University of Virginia Miller Center and as a Senior Strategy Advisor for FiscalNote. After President Biden's 2020 election win, Chris also briefly worked as the Lead of the Department of Labor Agency Review Team for the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition.
