The Board of Directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation announced on November 24, 2009 that David McKean had accepted the position of Chief Executive Officer effective February 1, 2010.
David McKean most recently served as Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the 111th Congress, and as Chief of Staff for Massachusetts Senator John Kerry from 1999 to 2008. He was a key player in laying the groundwork for Senator Kerry's presidential run in 2004.
Raised in Hamilton, MA, McKean, 53, graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, and magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1980. He went on to receive a law degree from Duke University Law School, and a master's degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
McKean taught at the Waterford Kamhlaba School in Swaziland from 1981-1982. He also served on the Senate Committee on Government Affairs, as Special Counsel for the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission, and as Chief of Staff to Congressman Joseph Kennedy from 1993-1994. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for the National Archives.
McKean is the author of the highly acclaimed political biography Tommy the Cork: Washington's Ultimate Insider from Roosevelt to Reagan, and co-author of Friends in High Places: The Rise and Fall of Clark Clifford, and The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall, and the Battle for the Supreme Court.
McKean is the son of the late Katharine Winthrop McKean of Hamilton, Mass., and the late Shaw McKean. His mother was a top-ranked tennis player in the late 1930's and 1940's under her maiden name, Katharine Winthrop. His father was a private investor.
McKean is married to Kathleen Kaye, formerly of Littleton, Mass. She is a graduate of Boston College and received her master's degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania. They have three children.