Published January 21, 2021
Rob Flaherty is Director of Digital Strategy for White House
By ALLIE HASTINGS
NORTH READING — Former North Reading resident and NRHS alumnus Rob Flaherty has successfully climbed the ranks from academic to professional, taking his small-town roots to the big city to serve the American people in our nation’s capital.
Flaherty, who previously worked as the Digital Director for the Biden campaign, assumed the role of Director of Digital Strategy in the White House, CNN reported December 28. Flaherty joins other staffers and operatives who seek to establish a well-oiled machine for the new White House Office of Digital Strategy.
Previously, Flaherty served as the Deputy Digital Communications Director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, then later spent seven months in El Paso, Texas, working on digital strategy for Beto O’Rourke’s presidential campaign prior to moving to Philadelphia for the Biden campaign. This latest appointment means that he will take up residence in Washington, D.C. for the time being.
Flaherty’s main role will entail overseeing the Office of Digital Strategy, which is a team comprised of a group of individuals who are dedicated to communicating and engaging with Americans in digital spaces like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. Specifically, Flaherty and his team will work to ensure that Americans are informed about President Biden’s core agenda, which starts with working to “Build Back Better,” rescuing the American economy, and tackling the COVID-19 crisis head-on by distributing the vaccine to as many citizens as possible.
In addition to coordinating with the Government Team on a near-constant basis, Flaherty and his colleagues are already starting to discuss network communication strategies and think about the digital partners and creators they can engage with in order to reach a larger audience of constituencies.
“We are an interesting team in that we are coordinating with a lot of different people throughout the building, whether it’s the Communications Team, or the Public Engagement Team, or the President-elect himself,” explained Flaherty in an interview with the Transcript last Thursday, less than a week prior to Biden’s inauguration.
As the world of social media has become much more polarized and divisive in the modern age of technology, Flaherty will work with members of his team to make sure that the flow of tweets and posts coming from the President’s accounts are contributing to a healthy awareness of information and an expansion of public discourse, rather than the spread of false facts and figures, he said.
“We do have a fundamental problem, where people who are out on the internet are seeing misinformation, disinformation, and bad information shared in their feeds. And that makes it all the more important for us to have a presence there,” he said.
Furthermore, a couple of Flaherty’s main objectives are to build back a sense of trust in government and foster long-term engagement with members of American communities who may be less engaged in the day-to-day news cycle.
According to Flaherty, the newly appointed Press Team and Office of Digital Strategy view “transparency and working closely with members of the press as being a major priority” moving forward.
North Reading roots
While he is very excited to be taking up this position in the nation’s capitol and is currently “living something like the dream,” Flaherty also looks back at his time in North Reading with a sense of humble gratitude and sentiment, as he acknowledges that various experiences and people helped him get to where he is today.
During his junior year of high school, Flaherty joined the tech team in Masquers —the NRHS drama club — a decision which later led him to become involved in other clubs, such as Student Government, where he was voted in as Treasurer. And the one class that really made a positive difference, he says, was the AP Government course he took in his senior year, taught by Mr. Jason McIntosh.
“That class taught me so much about the government and taught me so much about campaigns, and kind of helped focus me as a person on this career path,” he wistfully expressed. “It was folks like Mr. Jon Bernard and Allison Kane and Mr. McIntosh who helped sort of shape me.”
Flaherty also credits his college internship experience working at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and his time working for Governor Terry McAuliffe’s campaign race in Virginia as being instrumental in allowing him to obtain this new directorial position.
Within the last few years, Flaherty has also connected up with NRHS alumnus Jonathan Favreau, who received his job as Barack Obama’s head speechwriter in 2009 when Flaherty was just in high school. Given that both have now experienced the chaos of election cycles and hail from the same hometown, they are able to relate to one another in a very special and unique way.
Additionally, Flaherty noted that while his parents no longer reside in North Reading he makes an effort to swing through town whenever he is in Massachusetts.
Reflections and outlook for the future
When asked about his recollections of November 7, the day that Joe Biden was announced as President-elect, Flaherty was quick to provide an answer, remembering exactly where he was and how he felt at the time. In an odd turn of events, Flaherty just so happened to be getting tested for COVID-19 in Maryland when the news broke, and he reflects on the day with a certain kind of nostalgic joviality.
“I’m pulling out of the parking lot and CNN calls the race,” he reflected, laughing. “I’m sitting in the car, having just gotten COVID-tested, and the race is over. Meanwhile, we have to figure out how to get the victory tweet out, and the website’s gotta be changed…we’re driving back into D.C. and people are shooting off fireworks, they’re like out on the road, there’s fire trucks driving around waving flags — it was kind of crazy.”
Since he has mostly been conducting work remotely over the past year due to COVID-19, Flaherty remains unsure about where the Digital Team will end up residing in Washington, D.C., though he believes they could likely be working in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (E.E.O.B), which sits on the White House complex. Regardless of where they are placed location-wise, Flaherty wants the American public to know that consistency in communication will remain an important priority for the Office of Digital Strategy.
“The stuff that we’re doing leading up to inauguration day — what you’re seeing right now on the President-elect’s account — is a good precursor for how we’re going to evolve and grow strategically after January 20,” he explained.
Further, he hopes that Americans across the country can work together to bridge the divide of its political beliefs and ideologies and feels optimistic that people will look to Joe Biden for guidance and direction, especially in the wake of the tragic events which took place in the nation’s capitol on January 6.
“Joe Biden campaigned on bringing the country together. And while he’s a Democrat, he believes to his core that he needs to be a President for all Americans,” affirmed Flaherty.
Beyond SNL’s Weekend Update
Although his original dream was to work for Saturday Night Live, Flaherty now knows that he is exactly where he is meant to be. For students who may be interested in following a similar behind-the-scenes career path in politics, Flaherty recommends getting started early, maintaining a positive attitude, and always keeping the faith that brighter days lie ahead.
“Go knock on doors in high school, go intern on campaigns in college, and meet people. The more people you know, the better off you’ll be,” he revealed. “I think there’s this sense of cynicism about politics, particularly after the last couple of years. But if you believe in a better future for our country, there’s no better industry to be in to have a real impact.”
