Very few EOP officials are required to be confirmed by the Senate, although there are a handful of exceptions to this rule (e.g., the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the United States Trade Representative). The core White House Staff appointments do not require Senate approval. The staff of the Executive Office to the President is headed by the White House Chief of Staff.
Jarrett was born to American parents James E. Bowman and Barbara Taylor Bowman in Shiraz, Iran, where her father, a pathologist and geneticist, ran a hospital for children as part of a program where American doctors and agricultural experts sought to help jump-start developing countries’ health and farming efforts. When she was five, the family moved to London for one year, returning to Chicago in 1963.
As a child she spoke Persian and French.
Jarrett got her start in Chicago politics in 1987 working for Mayor Harold Washington[6] as Deputy Corporation Counsel for Finance and Development.[7]
Jarrett continued to work in the mayor’s office in the 1990s. She was Deputy Chief of Staff for Mayor Richard Daley, during which time (1991) she hired Michelle Robinson, then engaged to Barack Obama, away from a private law firm. Jarrett served as Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development from 1992 through 1995, and was Chair of the Chicago Transit Board from 1995 to 2005.