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