Former Aides For Bush, Obama Named Hofstra Presidential Fellows

UNIONDALE, NY — Hofstra University has announced its latest Senior Presidential Fellows for its Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency. Philip M. Schiliro, director of legislative affairs and special advisor to President Barack Obama, and Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary for President George W. Bush, are the newest to join.

Senior Presidential Fellows teach classes, meet with students and participate in university events. Schiliro (a Hofstra alumnus) and Fleischer will make their first campus appearance on Oct. 26 for a discussion titled “Assessing the Early Biden Presidency.” Registration information will be available at events.hofstra.edu.

The appointment of Schiliro and Fleischer comes as planning gets underway for Hofstra University’s 13th presidential conference April 19-21, 2023, dedicated to analyzing President Barack Obama’s campaigns, political leadership, policy agenda and legacy.

The Obama conference continues Hofstra’s tradition of hosting conferences on the administrations of all U.S. presidents since the university’s founding in 1935, beginning with Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The presidential conferences traditionally bring to campus hundreds of national leaders, scholars, journalists and historians and serve as an early assessment of presidential history.

Dr. Meena Bose, executive dean for the Kalikow School’s PPPS Programs, director of Hofstra’s Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency, and the Peter S. Kalikow Chair in Presidential Studies, noted that the Senior Presidential Fellows will contribute greatly to teaching and research at Hofstra on the American presidency, public policy, and public service.

“Their extensive direct expertise in White House governance combined with their dedication to public service and civil discourse will be highly instructive for students, scholars of the American presidency, and all participants in Kalikow School and Center events,” Bose said.

Schiliro has more than 30 years of experience in Congress and the Executive Branch. He served as President Obama’s Director of Legislative Affairs from 2009 to 2010, Special Advisor to the President in 2011, and the President’s Advisor for the Affordable Care Act and Health Policy in 2013 and 2014. As Obama’s liaison to Congress, Schiliro played a key role in the passage of the Affordable Care Act and other historic laws and reforms during the first two years of the Obama administration.

Fleischer was the primary spokesperson for President George W. Bush and delivered the daily White House briefings from 2001 to 2003. He previously served as the spokesperson for the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign. In his almost four years working for Bush, he served as spokesperson during the historic presidential recount, Sept. 11, two wars, and the anthrax attack.

Fleisher and Schiliro are the second pair of public policy experts to serve as Hofstra’s Senior Presidential Fellows. Former Democratic National Committee Chairman and presidential candidate Howard Dean and Republican strategist Ed Rollins held the inaugural positions from 2009-2019.