New White House Chief of Staff A Forest Hills Native

Jacob “Jack” Lew, the man President Barack Obama announced Monday as his new chief of staff, is a local native who graduated from

In an announcement on Monday afternoon, Obama said that his current chief of staff, Bill Daley, has decided to step down, and that the vacancy will be filled by Jacob Lew, currently the director of the Office of Management and Budget.

“Today I’m pleased to announce that Jack Lew has agreed to serve as my next Chief of Staff,” the President said in a White House briefing Monday afternoon.

He said that outgoing Chief of Staff Daley recommended Lew for the position, and that Lew happily accepted.

“Jack’s economic advice has been invaluable and he has my complete trust, both because of his mastery of the numbers, but because of the values behind those numbers,” Obama said. “Ever since he began his career in public as a top aide to Speaker Tip O’Neill, Jack has fought for an America where hard work and responsibility pay off, a place where everybody gets a fair shot, everybody does their fair share, and everybody plays by the same rules.”

President Obama’s tenure in the White House isn’t the first time Lew has had an opportunity to make an impact on a national scale.

He worked for the Office of Management and Budget under President Bill Clinton, and has worked in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s office, as well.

The President also threw a couple of plaudits Lew’s way with a mention of his service overseas, as well, noting that “his portfolio also included managing the civilian operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. And over the last year, he has weighed in on many of the major foreign policy decisions that we’ve made.”

Lew got his start in Washington in 1973 as a legislative aide, after graduating from high school in 1972, and eventually found his way into a domestic policy advisor role to Massachusetts Rep. Tip O’Neill.

Lew will be the 25th White House Chief of Staff to hold the title.

He had kind words for the students and staff of Forest Hills High School during a commencement address last year, made public on the OMB blog.

"Not a day goes by when I am not thankful for what this city — that I still call home — and this high school gave me, and where I do not try my hardest to give the same kind of breaks that I got to all the kids who came after me," Lew said.