Christian Peele has worked at the intersection of social justice and strategic operations for more than a decade, and her specialty is building organizational systems that help achieve equity, access, and safety for those who need it most.

She previously served as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Management and Administration at the White House.

Born and raised in eastern North Carolina, Christian’s work is rooted in the values she was raised to treasure: family, community, and hope for a better world.

Christian began her academic career at Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, VA where she graduated with honors and an undergraduate degree in Religion. She went on to complete graduate studies at Duke University Divinity School, where she also graduated with honors. Her studies in religious thought fueled her interest in social action and informed her understanding of why inclusion matters.

Since then, Christian has worked in the area of social change in the private, public, and non-profit sectors. Prior to her current White House tenure, Christian also completed a tenure in the Obama White House where she was the administration’s first African American Deputy Director for Operations. There, she managed a team responsible for strategic operations related to budget, technology, and facilities and co-founded a cross-government working group on accessibility and inclusion. She was also the Director of the White House Internship Program for two years, where she oversaw all strategic and operational aspects of the high-profile leadership development program. Under her leadership, the program became the most diverse White House internship program in history – expanding the intern class to include record numbers of young leaders from low-income households, graduates from community colleges, those over the age of 25, and students of color.

Prior to that, Christian was Executive Minister of Institutional Advancement at The Riverside Church, a historic church and social services agency in New York City, where she led innovative developments in fundraising that resulted in unprecedented returns and enabled the organization to significantly increase its budget for programs for the poor.

In 2019, Christian founded her own consulting practice, through which she worked with multiple social impact organizations on matters of values-based organizational strategy and sustainable revenue. Her portfolio included non-profits, institutions of higher education, startups, and political organizations.

Christian is ordained in the American Baptist Church, and her writings on using operational tools to create social change have been featured in Faith & Leadership and the Huffington Post. Christian is also the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio.

She and her husband, Vinay, live in Washington, DC