Cody Keenan, Former White House Director of Speechwriting

Cody Keenan

Former White House Director of Speechwriting

Cody Keenan has written with President Barack Obama since 2007, rising from a campaign intern in Chicago to Chief Speechwriter at the White House and Obamaโ€™s post-presidential collaborator. Heโ€™s been nicknamed the โ€œSpringsteenโ€ of the Obama White House, even though he canโ€™t play an instrument, and Obama calls him โ€œHemingwayโ€ for reasons that have little to do with his talent or seasonal beard. Not to be outdone, British GQ declared Cody one of the โ€œ35 Coolest Men under 38 (and a Half),โ€ ahead of Ryan Gosling, but behind Tom Hardy. 

Codyโ€™s passion for public service was sharpened as a young aide to the legendary senator Ted Kennedy, and today, he sits on the board of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. Cody holds a masterโ€™s degree from Harvard Universityโ€™s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a BA from Northwestern University, where he now teaches a popular course on speechwriting. Cody is a partner at Fenway Strategies and is writing his first book, due in 2021. He and his wife Kristen live in New York Cityโ€™s West Village with their daughter, Grace.

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