Alexis Bataillon is chief of staff, managing the Executive Office of the Institution, as well as President Strobe Talbott’s research agenda, press, travel and public event schedule. She acts as the primary liaison to the Institution’s research programs on the president’s activities and participation in Brookings activities. She received her bachelor’s degree in history from Cornell University.
Alexis is a veteran of political campaigns, beginning her career on a state delegate race in Mount Vernon, Virginia. She moved on to Senator Mark Warner’s first Senate race in 1996 and became the director of scheduling on his gubernatorial race in 2001. She then joined the Senate office of John Edwards and moved to his presidential campaign as director of scheduling in 2003. When Senator Edwards was chosen as the vice presidential candidate, she traveled with him as deputy chief of staff.
In 2005, Alexis established and ran an anti-poverty advocacy organization. She left that post in 2006 to become chief of staff and vice president at the American Association for Justice (formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America).
Alexis grew up in Villanova, Pennsylvania, right outside of Philadelphia, and lives on Capitol Hill with her husband and son.