Kristie Canegallo is White House's new ACA chief

Who: Kristie Canegallo, 34

Appointed as: President Barack Obama's deputy chief of staff for policy implementation. She will serve as the top White House official charged with the ongoing rollout of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Previous positions: Canegallo was already a key White House adviser on healthcare issues, but attracted little public notice. Chris Jennings, a senior healthcare adviser in the administration before stepping down in December, said Canegallo played a “critically important” role in the frenzied effort to fix the federal HealthCare.gov website after its disastrous launch in October. Canegallo joined the White House from the Pentagon, where her tenure included posts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tasks ahead: Struggles with technological problems associated with implementation of the federal healthcare law continue. In particular, critical back-end operations are still not functional and there are concerns about widespread errors in determining subsidy amounts for individuals enrolling in coverage through state and federal exchanges.

What she brings: “People respect her greatly,” Jennings said. “Her analytical, political and process skills will be particularly appreciated.”