Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has hired former Obama adviser David Plouffe away from Uber to work on his social advocacy organization.
Plouffe, who was senior vice president of policy and strategy at Uber, will now join the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, where he will lead policy and advocacy effort, Zuckerberg said in a post (see below).
Plouffe is no stranger to working at the nexus of policy and philanthropy: He has served as a board member of the Obama foundation and was a campaign manager for President Barack Obama. The Washington Post reported in May of last year that Plouffe would move from his operational vice president role to more of an advisory role at Uber.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is part of Zuckerberg's push, along with his wife, to give most of his Facebook shares away to causes that "advance human potential," like providing personalized education to everyone and curing all diseases within the next 100 years. So far, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has led a $24 million series B investment for Andela, which helps train and place African engineers with tech companies, a $50 million investment in Indian video learning startup Byju, and $600 million of the funds towards building a "Biohub" building where researchers at Stanford University, University of Calfornia, Berkeley and University of California, San Francisco will work together to understand and treat disease.
Uber, of course, has had numerous regulatory battles over Plouffe's tenure, including pushback from municipalities all over the U.S. due to safety concerns from drivers and self-driving technology, data collection and pressure from existing taxi companies.
Zuckerberg wrote in a post that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative hopes to change government spending patterns, especially when it comes to health care research.
At the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Plouffe will help lead a bipartisan policy board alongside Ken Mehlman, who formerly ran Republican National Committee. Together, Plouffe and Mehlman will announce members of the policy board and "find opportunities to work with governments," Zuckerberg said.
— CNBC's Michelle Castillo and Harriet Taylor contributed to this report.