Dan Balz is chief correspondent at The Washington Post. He joined The Post in 1978 and has been involved in political coverage as a reporter or editor throughout his career. Before coming to The Post, he worked at National Journal magazine as a reporter and an editor and at the Philadelphia Inquirer. At The Post, he has reported on 10 presidential campaigns. The first political convention he covered was the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968. He is the author of several books, including two bestsellers. He was born in Freeport, Ill., and served in the U.S. Army. He is married to Nancy Johnson Balz.

Nanda Chitre joined the Institute of Politics as the Director of the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum in 2020. Nanda has more than twenty years of experience working in the executive branch of the U.S. government, in national public-policy and political campaigns, and as a consultant to foreign governments. She has also worked as a strategic advisor in the nonprofit sector, on film and television projects, and as a visiting university lecturer.

In both the Clinton and Obama administrations, Nanda was an on-the-record spokesperson. In the Obama administration, she served as the Acting Director of Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Justice and as a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of State. At the White House, she was Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Press Secretary to President Clinton. Previously, she was the Assistant Spokesperson for the State Department and the media coordinator for Secretary of State Warren Christopher’s overseas missions. Nanda also worked on the 1992 and 1996 Clinton-Gore campaigns and the Presidential Transition. In the nonprofit sector, she worked at the Center for American Progress, and she provided strategic communications planning advice to emerging democracies in Eastern Europe and Southern and East Africa through the National Democratic Institute. Nanda’s professional experience also includes work on the award-winning NBC series “The West Wing.”  In the Boston area, Nanda worked at PBS station WGBH on Rx for Survival – A Global Health Challenge. Most recently, Nanda designed and taught government communications courses at Tufts University. She received her B.A. in international relations and history from Tufts University and a J.D. from American University in Washington, D.C.

John Della Volpe is the Director of Polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, where he has led the institute’s polling initiatives on understanding American youth since 2000.  The Washington Post referred to John as one of the world’s leading authorities on global sentiment, opinion and influence especially among Millennials and in the age of digital and social media.  In 2008, he received an Eisenhower Fellowship for which he traveled extensively throughout China, Hong Kong, and Korea (including a supervised day in North Korea) studying Millennials; in 2011, he was appointed to the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission on Media.  John is also founder of SocialSphere, a Cambridge based public opinion and analytics company.  He serves on the Board of Trustees of iCatholic Media, the Ad Club of Boston and is a member of the Global Alumni Council for Eisenhower Fellowships.  John appears regularly on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and his insights on the Millennial generation are found in national media outlets in the U.S. and abroad, including the Daily Show with Trevor Noah. 

Abbie joined the Institute of Politics in 2015. Abbie has managed the Fellows and Study Groups program since fall 2017, and prior to that was the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum Staff Assistant. As the Fellows Coordinator, Abbie oversees all IOP Fellows experience at Harvard by providing support in implementing weekly study groups and managing all program logistics. Prior to joining the IOP, Abbie worked as NH Scheduler for Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). A native of Needham, MA, she is a graduate of Saint Anselm College and holds a degree in Politics.

Sadie joined the IOP in May 2013. As part of the Internships and Career Services team, Sadie works on the Director’s Internship Program, the Stipend Program, Research Assistantship Program, Gov 2.0 Grants, the Summer in Washington Program, and Career Services Programming. She has long been engaged in politics and public service – from interning in the US Senate and the Office of the Attorney General of DC to conducting research on juvenile recidivism rates and  working with children who have chronic and life-threatening illnesses and with youth in a state-mandated rehabilitation facility. Prior to joining the IOP, she worked at Harvard’s Center for European Studies. She holds a B.S. in Community and Regional Development from the University of California, Davis, and an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she studied the intersection of education and community.