Biography
Susie Wiles is a political strategist who led Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and became White House chief of staff at the start of his second administration in January 2025. She is the first woman to hold the position.
Career Before 2024
Wiles is a daughter of the NFL player and sportscaster Pat Summerall. She worked in the Washington office of Rep. Jack Kemp in the 1970s, then on Ronald Reagan’s campaign and in his White House as a scheduler. Moving to Florida, she advised two Jacksonville mayors and worked for Rep. Tillie Fowler before moving into statewide campaigns, where she was credited with helping Rick Scott win the governor’s office. She briefly managed Jon Huntsman’s 2012 presidential campaign, and ran Trump’s 2016 effort in Florida.
In 2018 she helped elect Ron DeSantis governor of Florida. The two subsequently fell out, and DeSantis urged Trump’s 2020 campaign to cut ties with her while she was again running his Florida operation. She later led Trump’s 2024 primary campaign against DeSantis.
The 2024 Campaign and the White House
Wiles served as co-chair of the 2024 campaign; the committee’s FEC filings record payments to her from August 2023. Trump named her chief of staff on November 7, 2024, his first major decision as president-elect. She came to the role without prior government experience.
Relevance to This Site
Wiles is included here as one of the operatives behind a campaign whose communications strategy is covered elsewhere on the site, not as a figure with a public digital presence of her own. Reporting consistently describes her as working out of the spotlight — she declined to speak at the election-night celebration. Characterizations of her effectiveness or of her influence on the president are attributed to the sources that made them and are not asserted here.
Sources
- 01.
Miller, Z., Price, M. L., & Colvin, J. (2024). Trump names campaign manager Susie Wiles as next White House chief of staff. Report of November 7, 2024. Source for the appointment as White House chief of staff, for Wiles being the first woman to hold the role, for the fact that she does not bring prior government experience to it, and for Trump's statement announcing her.
- 02.
Kinnard, M. (2024). Who is Susie Wiles, Trump's next White House chief of staff?. Report of November 8, 2024. Source for her career: daughter of Pat Summerall; work in the Washington office of Rep. Jack Kemp in the 1970s; Ronald Reagan's campaign and White House, as a scheduler; advising two Jacksonville mayors and working for Rep. Tillie Fowler; credit for helping Rick Scott win the Florida governorship; briefly managing Jon Huntsman's 2012 presidential campaign; running Trump's 2016 Florida effort; helping elect Ron DeSantis in 2018 and the subsequent rift, in which DeSantis urged the 2020 Trump campaign to cut ties with her; and her role as 2024 campaign co-chair.
- 03.
Federal Election Commission. Schedule B itemized disbursements, Donald J. Trump 2024 principal campaign committee (C00828541). Itemized disbursements retrieved through the FEC OpenFEC API. The committee's records include a payment to 'WILES, SUSAN' of $14,750.23 on August 30, 2023, described as travel reimbursement — the committee's own documentation of her working for the campaign.
- 04.
The White House. Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on working in the White House: "It is superhuman pace.". (2025). White House video page dated July 9, 2025, first-party confirmation that Wiles holds the office of chief of staff in the second Trump administration.