Obama appointed him senior policy adviser and Jewish outreach coordinator for his 2008 presidential campaign. In January 2009, Shapiro was appointed senior director for the Middle East and North Africa of the U.S. National Security Council. Focusing on Israel, he attended every Israel-related meeting, and met with every senior Israeli diplomat and military officer who visited Washington, D.C. Shapiro often accompanied U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George J. Mitchell on his trips to the region, and played a central role in talks regarding the Middle East Peace Process and the strengthening of military cooperation between the U.S. and Israel. He maintained close relations with Benyamin Netanyahu, in spite of tensions between the Israeli prime minister and President Obama. In June 2011, he was appointed Ambassador to Israel. Shapiro took leave of the President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, on January 17, 2017 before holding his final meeting with Netanyahu two days later, which one newspaper described as a "terse farewell." After concluding his service as ambassador to Israel, Shapiro became a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. Shapiro is currently a principal at WestExec Advisors. References External links 1969 births 20th-century American Jews Ambassadors of the United States to Israel American lobbyists Brandeis University alumni Harvard University alumni Living people Obama administration personnel People from Champaign, Illinois United States National Security Council staffers 21st-century American Jews University Laboratory High School (Urbana, Illinois) alumni