By Jacob Burg,
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen the co-chair of his campaign, Susie Wiles, to be his White House chief of staff, making the veteran political operative the first woman to serve in that role and soon to be one of the most powerful women in Washington.
Daughter of the late NFL broadcaster Pat Summerall and architect of multiple successful Florida gubernatorial campaigns, Wiles, 67, helped Trump win the Sunshine State in both 2016 and 2020 before helping him win the presidency this year.
Wiles, who has far more experience in Florida politics than she does in Washington, has been credited with instilling discipline and poise in the Trump campaign.
“Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history and was an integral part of both my 2016 and 2020 successful campaigns,” Trump said in a Nov. 7 statement.
She also rarely gives public remarks, and declined an opportunity to speak before Trump’s acceptance speech on election night.
From Washington to Florida Politics
Wiles began her political career as a staff assistant for Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.) from 1979 until 1980. She then worked as the deputy director of scheduling during President Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign before serving as special assistant to the president from 1981 until 1982 in the Executive Office of the President.
Continuing in the executive branch, Wiles joined the U.S. Department of Labor as special assistant to Secretary of Labor Raymond J. Donovan until 1983. She was a principal of the Jacksonville, Florida-based government affairs firm Summerall, Smith & Wiles until 1986.
Wiles returned to Washington politics in 1988, working as the deputy director of operations for the vice presidential campaign of then-candidate Dan Quayle, the running mate of Republican George H.W. Bush, who was elected president later that year. She then joined Rep. Tillie K. Fowler (R-Fla.), serving as district director from 1992 until 1995.
Wiles was also the senior executive in the office of Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney, a Republican, from 1995 to 1996 before being promoted to his chief of staff.
Republican Campaign Successes
Years later, Wiles would serve as chief of communications and special initiatives in Jacksonville Mayor John Peton’s office from 2004 to 2009. After that, she began successfully managing campaigns for a slate of GOP heavyweights.
The first was to manage Rick Scott’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign, years before he became one of Florida’s U.S. senators. Scott faced an uphill battle in that election, staving off criticism of his previous company’s massive Medicare fraud scheme and barely beating his Democratic opponent, Alex Sink, by slightly more than 1 percent of the vote.
When Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) ran for president in 2012, Wiles served as co-chair of his Florida advisory council. She also briefly managed the 2012 presidential campaign of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.
Some have also credited Wiles with rescuing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s 2018 gubernatorial campaign when DeSantis was still a little-known congressman. She worked as his senior adviser from September 2018 until January 2019.
Joining the Trump Campaign
Wiles met Trump at Trump Tower in New York City in the summer of 2015 during the GOP presidential primary. Trump was hesitant to hedge his bets on winning Florida, which had gone to Barack Obama, a Democrat, in the previous two presidential elections.
Trump later named Wiles the co-chair of his Florida operation, and the longtime operative helped him win in the Sunshine State in two straight consecutive elections before Republicans grew a massive voter registration advantage over Democrats in Florida after 2021.
In March 2021, Trump hired Wiles to serve as CEO of his Save America Leadership PAC. Then, along with Chris LaCivita, Wiles co-chaired Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
Soft Spoken Approach
Wiles has been credited with being a silent figure in the Trump world, a top adviser who stays in the background and does not push herself into the spotlight. When Trump gave his victory speech on election night, he tried to get the longtime political operative to say a few words about the campaign, but she declined. LaCivita spoke instead.
“Susie likes to stay sort of in the back, let me tell you. The ice baby. We call her the ice baby. Susie likes to stay in the background. She’s not in the background,” Trump added. “Thank you, Susie.”
Recently, however, Wiles broke her customary silence to make a public statement in response to billionaire businessman Mark Cuban, who said on daytime television that Trump is never seen around “strong, intelligent women.”
Consultant & Lobbyist
Throughout her four-and-a-half decade-long political career, Wiles has also worked as a political consultant and lobbyist.
Between 2001 and 2004, she was the principal of Wiles Consulting, Inc., which provided “government affairs and communications consulting to a variety of clients.” From 2011 until 2022, Wiles was the Jacksonville managing partner of Ballard Partners, Florida’s largest government affairs firm. Ballard Partners represents local and national clients, including BlueCross BlueShield of Florida.
Since 2011, Wiles has served as principal of Right Coast Strategies, a public affairs, communications, and direct marking public relations firm founded in partnership with former Jacksonville Jaguars athlete Tony Boselli.
Wiles recently lobbied for the Swisher International tobacco company and is the co-chair of the lobbying giant Mercury Public Affairs. Mercury’s clients include AT&T, the Embassy of Qatar, and SpaceX.
Daughter of Late NFL Broadcaster Pat Summerall
Wiles’s father was the late NFL broadcaster Pat Summerall. Formerly a placekicker for the Chicago Cardinals and the New York Giants from 1952 until 1961, Summerall called more Super Bowls than any announcer in history and was the signature voice of CBS Sports’ golf and tennis coverage for more than 20 years.
She was one of the broadcaster’s three children and grew up in New Jersey. Kemp, who gave Wiles her first job in politics, was one of Summerall’s teammates at the New York Giants.
Summerall battled alcoholism and later credited his daughter with pushing him to seek rehab and sobriety.
“I hadn’t been there much for my kids, but Susan’s letter made it clear that I’d hurt them even in my absence,” Summerall wrote in his memoir, adding that the two grew close later in life.
After Summerall’s 2013 death, Wiles described him as “an extraordinary man and a wonderful father.”
