Trump chooses Susie Wiles to serve as chief of staff : NPR

President-elect Donald Trump praises his campaign senior advisor Susie Wiles during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Nov. 6 in West Palm Beach, Fla. Trump has asked Wiles to serve as his chief of staff when he takes office in January.

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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump has named his first appointee for his upcoming term: campaign manager Susie Wiles will serve as Trump’s White House Chief of Staff.

Wiles will be the first woman to serve as White House Chief of Staff.

Wiles managed Trump’s campaign quietly, making very few media or public appearances, though Trump proudly presented her during his election night speech in Palm Beach, Fla., saying “Susie likes to stay sort of in the back, let me tell you. The Ice Maiden. We call her the Ice Maiden.”

He asked if she wished to speak and she demurred, pushing campaign senior advisor — and her counterpart — Chris LaCivita forward.

In a statement, Trump touted her role in his 2024 election win and called her “tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected.” He went on to say it will be “a well deserved honor to have Susie as the first-ever female Chief of Staff in United States history.”

Wiles has worked for the Trump political operation off and on since 2016. She originally ran the campaign’s operations in Florida, before helping then-candidate Ron DeSantis win the governorship in 2018, something she has called the “biggest mistake” of her career, according to an interview with The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta. She was named CEO of Trump’s Save America PAC in 2021 and became a senior member of the campaign leadership when Trump announced his run to retake the White House.