Vice Media Hires Former Obama Aide Alyssa Mastromonaco as COO

Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff to join upstart multimedia operation as Chief Operating Officer

Alyssa Mastromonaco was instrumental in bringing hope and change to the White House, and now she hopes to bring change to the media.

The former White House Deputy Chief of Staff–who served as one of Barack Obama’s longest-tenured aides from his Senate days through his second term as president–has joined Vice Media as its Chief Operating Officer.

Mastromonaco will begin in January and oversee the organizations operations as well as global expansion efforts. She takes the helm of a company that started as a punk magazine in Canada two decades ago and transformed into an edgy, in-depth reporting multimedia company based in Brooklyn, New York.

Vice has been red-hot in 2014. A +E bought a 10 percent stake in the company this summer. The company also received a $250 million investment infusion from Technology Crossover Ventures aimed at mobile and web development.

Mastromonaco’s hire is a big step toward putting in place a solid management structure; the 38-year-old was the Obama campaign and White House’s main weapon for calming chaos. From scheduling, to events, to crisis management, Mastromonaco was one of the president’s most trusted aides.

“Behind Vice is an eclectic cast of some of the sharpest and most creative minds in media, and I’m thrilled to be joining the ranks, albeit a little less young than most,” Mastromonaco said in a statement.

“The only thing in this world crazier and more freaky than Vice right now is the U.S. government, and, as such, I believe that there is no one out there better or more uniquely suited in their skill set of managing chaos than Alyssa,” Vice CEO Shane Smith said in a statement.

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