Last week, President-elect Donald Trump announced his campaign co-chair Susie Wiles will serve as his White House chief of staff, the first woman — Republican or Democrat — ever to hold that position. Calling her “tough, smart, innovative…, universally admired and respected,” Trump credited her with helping him win both the 2024 and 2016 elections.

Behind the scenes

Wiles is known as a formidable political operative who prefers to work behind the scenes, rather than on any stage — or in front of cameras. In keeping with that, when Trump declared victory in the early hours of last Wednesday morning, he invited her to come to the microphones, but she politely declined. 

She’s managed to not just curry favor, but more critically, to remain in good standing with Trump, winning his trust while working in a high-profile campaign role, managing the ambitions, personalities and egos in Trump’s orbit. 

Relationship with campaign staff

Wiles is beloved by the Trump campaign staff, many of whom call her a mentor. 

“Susie Wiles is a tremendous advocate for President Trump and a great boss to those that work for her,” said Trump senior adviser Danielle Alvarez. “She knows how to bring people together.”

“For myself and countless others, having Susie Wiles as a mentor and a friend is a gift,” said Brian Hughes, another senior adviser. “The nation will see that with President Trump in the White House with Susie as the COS the next four years will be America’s best.”

Those who have worked for Wiles “will take a bullet for Susie,” said Carlos Trujillo, a campaign adviser who served as U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States. Trujillo said most people don’t see Wiles’ motherly and grandmotherly side. “She always made sure her people were taken care of,” he said. “She’s very soft spoken, but she holds everyone accountable, and it’s always done through love and kindness but never a place of hate.”

Management style

Staffers say Wiles runs a tight and focused ship. Trump’s 2024 campaign did not go through the big, dramatic shakeups or infighting that characterized his previous campaigns. Wiles’ appointment signals that as president-elect, he wants to run his administration in a similar way. 

Wiles’ legacy, Trujillo said, is her ability to cultivate talent. “Susie in politics is the greatest coach of all time…she’s going to be able to recruit the best talent.” 

And while Wiles shies away from the spotlight, she made a rare comment on X when businessman Mark Cuban, in an interview on ABC’s “The View,” accused Trump of not associating with “strong, intelligent women.” In response, Wiles posted for the first time this year: “I’m told [Mark Cuban] needs help identifying the strong and intelligent women surrounding Pres. Trump. Well, here we are!”

Background

After Trump won the 2016 election, Wiles, who was the chief strategist in Florida for his campaign, was dispatched in late September of 2018 to help Ron DeSantis with his 2018 bid to be Florida governor. At the time, he was trailing Democrat Andrew Gillum in several polls.

After helping DeSantis win, however, Wiles was shut out of his inner circle, according to The Atlantic‘s Tim Alberta. Wiles told Alberta that working for DeSantis was the “biggest mistake” of her career. She returned to the Trump campaign and ran his Florida campaign in 2020, and then after his loss, she went on to run Trump’s Save America PAC.

As Trump’s 2024 co-campaign manager, Wiles, along with Chris LaCivita, hatched a plan to recruit, register and turn out Trump’s low-propensity voters, Alberta reported. During the primary campaign, they pursued people in the reddest areas of the country who liked Trump but weren’t habitual voters and in many cases, weren’t even registered to vote. During the general campaign, Wiles and LaCivita raised a volunteer army to take on the legions of canvassers paid by Kamala Harris’ cash-rich coffers.

Wiles is a native of New Jersey, the daughter of renowned the late NFL kicker and sportscaster Pat Summerall. Soon after she graduated from college at the University of Maryland, she worked for Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign, and later went on to work in Florida politics. In 2010, she helped Sen. Rick Scott win his election against Democrat Bill McCollum, and she has also been a political consultant in Florida.

Caitlin Huey-Burns

Caitlin Huey-Burns is a political correspondent for CBS News and a fill-in anchor for the CBS News 24/7 politics show “America Decides.”