Katie Hogan new chief of Chicago-based Organizing for Action

WASHINGTON — Katie Hogan, a long-serving member of the Obama team, will become the new chief of Organizing for Action, the Chicago-based offshoot of the Obama presidential campaigns that will likely have a role in his post-presidency.

“We’ve had a busy start to our fourth year — and we don’t plan on letting up. We are excited and grateful that Katie has agreed to lead this movement for change forward as OFA’s new executive director,” co-board chairman Jon Carson said in an e-mail to be sent to the activists on Monday.

OFA, headquartered in the West Loop, is part of a coalition of Obama White House allies mobilized to pressure Republican senators to give Obama Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland a hearing and an up-or-down vote.

That’s just the latest. Through the years, OFA has worked on a variety of drives to support initiatives of President Barack Obama, including measures to curb climate change and gun violence.

OFA also serves as a valuable training ground for would-be political professionals, with its alumni sought after by campaigns, causes and organizations in need of staffers with experience in digital, netroots and on the ground organizing.

Hogan’s career arc with Obama started when she joined his political operation in February 2007, the week before the official kick-off of his first campaign for the White House.

Hogan is a native of Chicago’s Beverly community and a 2002 graduate of Saint Ignatius College Prep. She received her undergraduate degree from George Washington University here.

During Obama’s 2008 campaign, Hogan was a traveling press assistant, wrangling reporters, taking on a similar role as a White House press wrangler between 2009 and 2011. Hogan returned to Chicago for Obama’s second presidential campaign, where she served as a deputy press secretary.

When the Obama for America political campaign transitioned to the nonprofit Organizing for Action after Obama’s re-election, Hogan was a founding senior staff member. She is the communications director for the organization, with 250 chapters across the country. Hogan, a Ukrainian Village resident, takes over as executive director on May 15.

Hogen replaces Executive Director Sara El-Amine, who will become the founding executive director of Change.org’s global foundation.