Name John Sullivan Role American lawyer | Education Brown University | |
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John Joseph Sullivan (born November 20, 1959) is an American lawyer and government official who is currently serving as the United States Deputy Secretary of State.
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Early life and education
Sullivan was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts and graduated from Xaverian Brothers High School in 1977. He then received his A.B. in history and political science from Brown University in 1981 and his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1985. At Columbia, he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and Book Reviews Editor of the Columbia Law Review. He was a law clerk for Judge John Minor Wisdom of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and for United States Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter.
Career
In 1991, Sullivan served as Counselor to Assistant Attorney General J. Michael Luttig in the Office of Legal Counsel of the United States Department of Justice. The next year, he served as Deputy General Counsel of President George H. W. Bush's 1992 re-election campaign.
In 1993, Sullivan joined the Washington, D.C. law firm of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP, where he has practiced Supreme Court law. He is currently a partner in Mayer Brown’s Washington DC office and "co-chair of the firm’s National Security practice". His firm biography continued:
He also has served as a senior adviser to four presidential campaigns ... [Sullivan] has focused his practice on the growing intersection of global trade/investment and US national security and foreign policies. He advises CEOs, general counsels, and other senior executives on US sanctions and export controls, international trade disputes and regulation, and foreign investment in the United States, the Middle East, Russia, and other countries. His clients include major oil and gas companies, consulting, accounting, and financial services firms, petrochemical companies, and manufacturers. He has represented these clients before executive departments and agencies of the US and foreign governments, as well as in litigation in the United States, where he has filed briefs and presented oral argument in courts across the country.
The biography also discussed work on client business in Russia, Iran, Cuba and Iraq and "advising a multinational manufacturing company on security policies and risk issues in countries with a high threat of terrorism, violence, and political instability". In the Obama Administration, Sullivan was chairman of the US-Iraq Business Dialogue, "an advisory committee on economic relations between the two countries".
In February 2004, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld appointed Sullivan as Deputy General Counsel of the United States Department of Defense. In this capacity, he was responsible for all litigation involving the department and for counsel on major criminal and congressional investigations. During his tenure, he was awarded the Secretary of Defense’s Medal for Exceptional Public Service.
Sullivan then moved to the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he served as General Counsel. As the department’s chief legal officer and Designated Agency Ethics Official, Sullivan managed the work of over 400 lawyers in the 14 legal offices providing legal advice to all components of the department.
Upon the resignation of Deputy Secretary David Sampson, Sullivan was assigned as Acting Deputy Secretary beginning on September 1, 2007. He was soon thereafter nominated by George W. Bush to serve in a permanent capacity, and was sworn in on March 14, 2008 after confirmation by the United States Senate. As the department’s chief operating officer, he managed a $6.8 billion budget and 38,000 employees in 13 operating units. He was also a member of President Bush's Management Council and a member of the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
Deputy Secretary of State
President Donald Trump nominated Sullivan to serve as the United States Deputy Secretary of State on April 11, 2017. He was confirmed as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State by the Senate on May 24, 2017 with a vote of 94-6.
Personal life
Sullivan and his wife, Grace Rodriguez, have three children and live in Maryland. He is the nephew of the last United States Ambassador to Iran, William H. Sullivan.
From 2003 to 2008, Sullivan contributed to the campaigns of Republicans Chuck Floyd (MD-8) and Jack Ryan (IL-Senator).