Now that former President Donald Trump has won the 2024 election, earning him another term in the White House, he is beginning to announce staff that will join him in Washington. One of the names given today is Susie Wiles, who served as the President-elect’s campaign co-chair and will serve as his Chief of Staff during his second term (or at least the beginning of it).

The New Jersey native will become the first woman to serve as Chief of Staff to a sitting president. She will officially assume this role on January 20, 2025, when Donald Trump is inaugurated for a second term. As is typical during such transitions, Wiles will play a crucial role in the presidential transition process.

Susie Wiles’ origins in Republican politics

After graduating from the University of Maryland, College Park, she quickly entered Washington’s political scene, starting as an assistant in Representative Jack Kemp’s office. Notably, Kemp had played on the same NFL team as her father, Pat Summerall. A few years later, in 1980, she joined Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign, which resulted in the decisive defeat of the incumbent Democrat, Jimmy Carter.

In the 2000s, she gained notoriety within the Republican party as a political consultant, focusing particularly on election races and administrations in Florida. That was until 2016, when she joined the Trump campaign to lead operations in the Sunshine state. In 2021, the political strategists were tapped to run Donald Trump’s Save America PAC, a major source of campaign money for the former president. Over the years, she became closer with Donald Trump, and in 2023 was tapped to co-chair his campaign. After the victory, Trump appears very happy with Wiles’ work and has given her a historic promotion. In the statement released announcing her appointment, the President-elect described Wiles’ efforts throughout the campaign and how they “helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history”

“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 campaign,” Trump said in a statement. “Susie is tough, smart, innovative and is universally admired and respected.”