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Christopher Marston -- Department of Education
Assistant Secretary for Management

Christopher M. "Chris" Marston is the Department's assistant secretary for management. He was nominated to his post by President George W. Bush on June 24, 2008, and confirmed by the Senate five weeks later on Aug. 1. As assistant secretary, he serves as the primary management adviser to Secretary Margaret Spellings, providing leadership in human resources, information management, facilities services, security and other related areas. He joined the Department as deputy assistant secretary for process improvement in January 2007 and served as acting assistant secretary from May 2008 until his confirmation. A native of Grosse Pointe, Mich., Marston earned his bachelor's degree in government cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1996. His senior thesis in American government won the college's Pressman Prize, and, after graduation, he set off for Washington, D.C., first as a congressional intern and, later, as a staff member for the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and the House parliamentarian. While on the parliamentarian's staff, he began attending law school part-time at Georgetown University, graduating with his juris doctor degree cum laude in 2003. In 2001, he joined the Bush administration at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, where he worked for three years, combining management duties and work with other agencies on drug prevention, treatment and market disruption activities. In 2004, he left the administration to run Ohio Gov. Bob Taft's Washington, D.C., office for two years. In 2006, Marston joined the Department of the Interior as White House liaison, a post he held until he joined ED in 2007. Marston and his wife, Michelle—chief of staff to Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.)—live in Alexandria, Va., with their daughter, Abby.

Christopher Marston