Michelle Obama's role: Susan Sher, former chief of staff on First Lady panel

WASHINGTON–Chicago’s Susan Sher, former chief of staff for First Lady Michelle Obama, talks about the role of the First Lady Thursday night at a panel at the National Archives here. This is the third First Lady panel Sher will be a part of; exactly a year ago she revealed there was no wireless internet in the White House residence and more at a panel sponsored by American University. Last November, Sher was at the Bush Presidential Library for another First Lady forum.

After leaving the White House, Sher returned to an executive position at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she worked–with Mrs. Obama–before joining the Obama administration.

The Thursday–today–“Women in Leadership for the First Ladies” event is supposed to cover a lot of ground–about what “changes have taken place in roles, opportunities, and obstacles for women in leadership positions in the White House,” according to a release from the National Archives.

Background, from the National Archives: “NPR news analyst Cokie Roberts moderates a panel including Anita McBride, former Chief of Staff for Laura Bush; Susan Sher, former Chief of Staff to Michelle Obama; Jean Becker, former Deputy Press Secretary to Barbara Bush; and Bess Abell, former White House Social Secretary.”

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Link to post on Sher at November panel at the Bush Presidential Library is HERE.

Excerpt from my March 2, 2011 post:

WASHINGTON–First Lady Michelle Obama rarely can break out of her “bubble,” her staff wakes up to e-mails from the boss and she does not want her daughters to have cell phones, according to her former chief of staff Susan Sher.

Those glimpses at the life of the present First Lady came Tuesday at a conference, “The Legacies of America’s First Ladies,” at American University, organized by Anita McBride who was chief of staff for Laura Bush.

Sher, who resigned last month to return to Chicago, first met Mrs. Obama–then Michelle Robinson–when she applied for a job in 1991 in Mayor Daley’s City Hall. Sher shared insights into running the East Wing operation on a panel with McBride and Melanne Verveer, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s former chief of staff.

Sher related:

*The White House residence does not have wireless internet service. Mrs. Obama does not watch cable television