Christy White Goldfuss served as managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) from March 2015 until the Obama administration left office in 2017.

Goldfuss is from Darien, Connecticut, where she graduated from Darien High School in 1995 after being student body president. She went on to Brown University and earned a B.A. in political science in 1999.

However, Goldfuss started her career in television journalism. She was a reporter for stations in Redding, California; Reno, Nevada; and Richmond, Virginia.

Goldfuss left broadcasting in 2006 to work for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, later Environment America, where she worked to counter some of the environmental policies being enacted by the George W. Bush administration, including logging in the Alaska wilderness. In 2009, she took a post on the legislative staff of the House Committee on Natural Resources, remaining there until Republicans took over the House in 2011.

At that point, Goldfuss moved to the Center for American Progress (CAP), where she led its Public Lands Project. She advocated for President Barack Obama to protect as much public land as was offered for mineral extraction leases. While at CAP, Goldfuss worked with CAP founder John Podesta, later a top adviser to Obama.

Goldfuss joined the Obama administration in 2013, first as deputy director for Congressional and external affairs for the National Park Service. While there, she also championed a policy enacted by the administration to give fourth-graders yearly passes to national parks. Goldfuss held that post until taking over the CEQ.

While at CEQ, Goldfuss worked on the implementation of Obama’s climate action plan and served as co-chair of the National Ocean Council. Four days before he left office, President Obama appointed Goldfuss to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council in the Department of Homeland Security.

After leaving the White House, Goldfuss returned to the Center for American Progress as vice president for energy and environment policy.

Goldfuss married Jonathan Goldfuss, now a vice president at internet marketing service RepEquity, in 2006. They have two children.

-Steve Straehley

To Learn More:

Staying on Script (by Dave Skinner, The Hill)

Meet Christy Goldfuss, the Newest Environmental Player in the White House (by Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post)

Christy Goldfuss (Center for American Progress)

Official Biography