Scott Stanzel

Scott Michael Stanzel (born January 15, 1973) is a spokesman and media adviser who was a political appointee in the administration of President of the United States George W. Bush. He was raised in Sac City, Iowa and graduated from Iowa State University. He has been employed by Microsoft and Amazon.

Career

Upon graduating from college, Stanzel went to work for the Dole for President campaign as the Northwest Iowa Field Representative. Following Senator Bob Dole's victory in the Iowa Caucuses, Stanzel was recruited to serve as the Deputy Finance Director for the Lightfoot for U.S. Senate campaign. In January 1997, he was hired as the Assistant Press Secretary for U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

In September 1999, Stanzel left the Grassley office to work for the Bush for President campaign. After serving in communications roles in several primary states, at the campaign headquarters in Austin, Texas, and on the Florida Recount Team in Tallahassee during the historic post-election recount, Stanzel was selected to be a spokesman for the Bush-Cheney Transition Team, which guided President-elect Bush's Cabinet nominees during the Senate confirmation process. When Bush was inaugurated in January 2001, Stanzel was asked to become a White House spokesman. He served in the White House Office of Media Affairs, where he was the primary spokesman for Bush for reporters serving news outlets in 14 Midwestern and Industrial Belt states.

In August 2003, Stanzel accepted a position with Bush's reelection campaign. In his role as Press Secretary at Bush-Cheney '04, Stanzel traveled with Bush to campaign events throughout the country serving as national campaign spokesman to television, radio, newspaper and wire reporters covering the campaign. After Bush's election victory, Stanzel became a Senior Communications Advisor to the 55th Presidential Inaugural Committee.

Following Bush's second inauguration in 2005, Stanzel moved to the private sector to work for Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, as a Senior Public Relations Manager. In this position, he planned media relations activities and served as a spokesman for Microsoft on security issues.

On November 29, 2006, Bush's appointment of Stanzel to be Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Press Secretary brought his return to the White House.[1] In this role, Stanzel served as a spokesman for Bush on a variety of issues, including homeland security, education, agriculture and energy. Stanzel conducted numerous on camera briefings in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House and at the "Western White House" in Crawford, Texas. Stanzel regularly prepared Bush for media interviews and developed the strategy for the lengthy series of final interviews the President conducted over the last months of his time in office.

From 2009 to late 2011, he led Stanzel Communications, a firm providing public relations strategy, crisis communications and media training services to corporate clients, government leaders and political candidates.

In the summer and fall of 2010, Stanzel served as campaign manager for Defeat 1098. Ballot initiative 1098 would have established a state income tax in Washington for the first time. Defeat 1098 was successful in stopping the proposed tax, prevailing by nearly 30 points - a significant turnaround considering the 39-point deficit in the first public poll taken on the issue in the spring. Washington remained one of seven states with no state income tax.

Stanzel was employed by Amazon from 2011–2017, serving most recently as director of worldwide marketplace public relations.[2]

Personal life

Stanzel is the son of Ned and Chelon Stanzel, and was raised in Sac City, Iowa, where his father raised cattle and hogs. He graduated from Sac Community High School in 1991 and earned a bachelor's degree in Journalism from Iowa State University in 1995. He is a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity and served as president of the Iowa Gamma chapter while attending Iowa State University. In 2005, Stanzel received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the Iowa State University Alumni Association. In 2007, he was elected to the ISU Alumni Association Board of Directors and served as chair in 2012 and 2013. Stanzel also served on the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication Advisory Council at Iowa State University from 2007 to 2012.

In 2011, Stanzel married Priscilla Jones, a prosecutor in the office of the South Carolina Attorney General and former Bush White House staff member. They have three daughters and live in Seattle, Washington.

References

  1. ↑ "Personnel Announcement". The White House. November 29, 2006.
  2. ↑ "Amazon PR director Scott Stanzel departs after six years". First Line Magazine. September 14, 2017.
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