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

President-elect Donald Trump praises his campaign manager Susie Wiles during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on November 6 in West Palm Beach, Florida. 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 quietly managed Trump’s campaign and made very few media or public appearances, although Trump proudly introduced her during his election night speech in Palm Beach, Florida, saying, “Susie likes to be in the back a little bit, let me tell you. The Ice Maiden. We call her the Ice Maiden.”

He asked if she wanted to speak, and she hesitated, pushing forward the campaign’s senior adviser — and her counterpart — Chris LaCivita.

In a statement, Trump touted her role in his 2024 election victory, calling her “tough, smart, innovative and universally admired and respected.” He went on to say that 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 Trump’s political operation on and off since 2016. She initially ran the campaign’s operations in Florida before helping then-candidate Ron DeSantis win the 2018 governorship, something she has called the “biggest mistake” of her career, according to for an interview with Atlantic Oceanis Tim Alberta. She was named executive director of Trump’s Save America PAC in 2021 and became a senior member of the campaign leadership when Trump announced he would resume the White House.