Julie Adams, the 33rd secretary of the Senate, is a native of Iowa City, Iowa. She received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Luther College in 1999 and a master’s degree in education from the University of Iowa in 2002. She began her career in public service as deputy communications director for Senator Mitch McConnell in 2003. In September 2007, Adams joined the White House staff as spokesperson for First Lady Laura Bush. She returned to Leader McConnell’s staff in 2009 as his director of administration and member relations. She became secretary of the Senate in 2015. As secretary, Adams continued to modernize office procedures, to design publications that are timeless and therefore more cost effective, and in 2015 became the first secretary to chair the Joint Congressional Continuity Board tasked with emergency preparedness and continuity of operations. Adams also collaborated with the clerk of the House to establish expanded archival storage facilities for the official records of Congress and served as co-chair, with the clerk, of the Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress, a position held by every secretary since 1990.
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