Ben Finkenbinder to 270 Strategies from Organizing for Action

WASHINGTON — Ben Finkenbinder, one of the longest-serving members of the Obama political family, is moving to the Chicago-based 270 Strategies consulting firm from Organizing for Action, the West Loop group spawned from the 2012 Obama presidential campaign where he has been the communications director for regional media.

Finkenbinder will start at 270 in December as the senior communications manager, where he will be reunited with Obama world veterans Lynda Tran, a 270 partner and Hari Sevugan, a principal at the firm.

“I know Ben has been with OFA a long time to help build it out,” Sevugan said, “But in the end, we understand he just wanted to be on a better softball team,” a reference to the OFA/270 rivalry on the playing field.

In 2011 Finkenbinder — at the time one of President Barack Obama’s most frequent golfing partners — left the Obama White House to become a regional press secretary on the Obama 2012 re-election campaign in Chicago.

In 2007, Finkenbinder started in the press shop of the Obama 2008 presidential campaign right out of Macalester College — he was a media monitor handling clips — working his way up to Obama White House as associate director of Press Advance and Press Pool Wrangler.

Finkenbinder, 29, a Wicker Park resident, had been handling communications chores while OFA communications chief, Katie Hogan, was on maternity leave. Finkenbinder will remain connected to OFA in an advisory role.

The job switch has been in the works for some time and is not related to the recently announced departure of OFA executive director Jon Carson, who is joining a solar company.

270 clients include Ready for Hillary, Gov. Pat Quinn’s re-election campaign and the Chicago Cubs.