ON JANUARY 21, 2023, reports surfaced that Ron Klain is planning to step down from his position as Joe Biden's Chief of Staff.
Now, Americans want to know about his wife, Monica Medina.
Who is Monica Medina?
Monica Medina is an environmental activist and attorney.
According to her LinkedIn profile, she is the founder and publisher of Our Daily Planet, an environmental newsletter for "people who care about sustainability and conservation."
She served as Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, Deputy Associate Attorney General, General Counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and US Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission.
Extinction Rebellion ends disruption demos…piling pressure on Just Stop Oil
Medina received an Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps scholarship in 1979 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Georgetown College.
She later received her Juris Doctor with honors from Columbia Law School and went on to work in the office of the General Counsel of the Army, where she served on active duty in the United States Army.
Other notable accomplishments include her time serving as Senior Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works from 1989 to 1992.
She also served as the Senior Director of Ocean Policy at the National Geographic Society.
While working in the Obama administration, Medina served as Principal Deputy Undersecretary for Oceans and Atmosphere of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Medina also served as the US Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission.
She led efforts on Arctic conservation, restoration of the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, conservation of endangered species, and fisheries management and enforcement.
Medina played a key role in eliminating discrimination against women in the military and in addressing military sexual assault during her time as Special Assistant to United States Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
Significantly, she drafted the rule overturning the ban on women from “combat” positions strictly because of their gender.
Her husband Ron Klain has served as a longtime aide to Democrat Joe Biden and worked as his senior adviser.
World’s first tractor powered by cow dung could help tackle climate change
Medina was a source of support for her husband as he took on the role of Biden's senior adviser.
As reported by The New York Times, Klain is planning to soon resign from his White House Chief of Staff position under President Biden.
What does Monica Medina do?
Currently, Medina is a Senior Fellow at the Walton Family Foundation and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Medina is also a board member of the Service Women’s Action Network and the Georgetown Sustainable Oceans Alliance board.
She frequently writes about environmental policy and has written opinion columns for The New York Times, HuffPost, The Hill, and USA Today.
"I believe that my generation has an obligation to ensure a more sustainable future for our planet," Medina writes on Our Daily Planet.
She continues: "I have spent much of my life advocating for conservation."
When she is not writing for her site, Medina says she likes to travel and scuba dive.
Does Monica Medina have children with Ron Klain?
Medina and her husband are parents to three grown children – Daniel, Hannah, and Michael.
The couple raised their children under the Jewish faith, although Medina is not Jewish herself.
