Heidi Heitkamp began her term as IOP Director on January 3, 2023.
The Institute of Politics (IOP) has announced that Heidi Heitkamp will step down as director of the institute later this year after more than two years in the position.
In an email sent Thursday, founding director David Axelrod said Heitkamp planned for her tenure as director to be limited when she accepted the role.
“During her tenure as Director, Senator Heitkamp has accomplished everything we hoped for, and more,” Axelrod wrote in the email. “As passionate and personable as she is experienced and intelligent, Heidi has focused herself on her role and led IOP to new heights.”
Heitkamp joined IOP as Director in January 2023. She served as a U.S. Senator from North Dakota from 2013 to 2019.
Heitkamp will leave her position after a “global search” to find her replacement, according to Axelrod's email. Following her departure, she will serve as a member of the IOP Board of Advisors, a role she held prior to assuming the directorship.
Axelrod's email highlighted Heitkamp's work organizing a two-day conference on the rural-urban divide in the United States, which included events with elected officials, journalists and nonprofit executives.
Heitkamp was also in charge of the Institute for Internal Peace when pro-Palestine demonstrators briefly occupied the institute's building last May. Heitkamp, who was in the building at the time, had a 20-minute conversation with the protesters before University of Chicago police officers escorted her from the building.
Axelrod founded IOP in 2013 after serving as a senior advisor and strategist for then-President Barack Obama's campaign. Axelrod announced in February 2022 that he would step down as director after nearly 10 years. In October 2022, the IOP announced that Heitkamp would be his replacement. Axelrod now serves as Chairman of the IOP Board of Advisors.
