Neera Tanden (born 1970) is the President of the Center for American Progress, a public policy research and advocacy organization in Washington, DC, associated with the Clinton wing of the Democratic Party. She has served in this role since November 2011, before that serving as chief operating officer from 2010 and in earlier roles.
She grew up in Bedford, Massachusetts, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1992 and a Juris Doctor degree from Yale University in 1996. Active in Democratic Party politics since working on Governor Michael Dukakis' presidential campaign, Tanden more recently has worked for Hillary Clinton on her senatorial campaign in New York. She served as Clinton's policy director for her bid for the presidency in 2008. Tanden later served as policy director for Barack Obama. She was senior adviser to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, working to gain passage of healthcare legislation.