Good morning! Online abuse toward women rises following the election, women dominate Grammy nominations, and Trump’s new chief of staff has a long record in GOP politics. Have a mindful Monday.
– New chief. Susie Wiles will be Donald Trump’s chief of staff when he returns to the White House, Trump announced last week. Naming Wiles to the position was in its own way historic—Wiles will be the first woman to ever hold the White House chief of staff job. The choice also thrust a longtime behind-the-scenes Republican operative into the public eye.
At 67, Wiles has a four-decade career in politics behind her. For the past three years, Wiles has essentially served in the chief of staff role for Trump while he’s been out of office, per Politico. Based in Florida, she served as a county cochair for John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2008 and has given money to everyone from Nikki Haley to Jeb Bush. She helped elect Rick Scott governor of Florida in 2010 and delivered the state for Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Then, Wiles helped salvage Ron DeSantis’s bid for Florida governor in 2018—before DeSantis turned on her and convinced Trump to do the same. However, Trump brought Wiles back into the fold—and she played a key role in ensuring the future of the Republican Party was still tied to Trump and not to DeSantis.
So who will Wiles be in the White House? Much of the reporting about Wiles frames her as a grandmother who avoids the spotlight, whose hobbies include baking and birdwatching. She’s also, clearly, a savvy political operator. The Trump 2024 campaign was said to have “much better management and organization” than his 2016 and 2020 efforts, and that’s due to Wiles.
This Politico feature from earlier this year dives into Wiles’s upbringing and even her psyche—what drove her to return to Trump. Asked why the Jan. 6 insurrection wasn’t a breaking point for her, she said “I didn’t love it,” but “I didn’t think he caused it.”
Like many in the GOP, Wiles seems to have decided to “take the good with the bad” when it comes to Trump. Her new-to-Trump way of doing things seems set to transition from the campaign to the White House: Before accepting the chief of staff job, she reportedly insisted that she have tighter control on who has access to the Oval Office than her four predecessors from Trump’s first term did.
In the weeks ahead, we’ll learn about other players set to join Trump’s second term alongside Wiles—so far Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is his pick for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a role that Nikki Haley held during his first term.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today’s edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Sound of success. Women dominated this year’s Grammy nominations, which were announced on Friday. Six of eight nominees in record of the year, song of the year, and album of the year categories are women. Beyoncé set a new record for most nominations ever, with 99 over her career. The award show will be held in February. NPR
- Troubling trend. Online abuse toward women has risen since Donald Trump’s election win. The refrain “your body, my choice” spread on social media among “manosphere” content creators. Bloomberg
- Last one left. Mississippi is the only U.S. state that has yet to send a woman to the House of Representatives. And before 2018, with the appointment of Cindy Hyde-Smith to the Senate, the state had not had a woman as governor or in Congress at all. But a record-breaking 13 women will serve as governors next year. The 19th
- Jane Doe. In over half of the 27 sexual abuse cases filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs, the accusers remained unnamed; Combs’ legal team has opposed this and Combs has denied the allegations of sexual abuse. At least two judges in Manhattan’s Federal District Court denied plaintiffs’ requests for anonymity, saying that one of the plaintiff’s fears of retaliation and harm was insufficient. New York Times
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Jo Ann Jenkins will step down as CEO of AARP.
OMRON Healthcare, a personal heart health products developer, appointed Alice Koehler as managing director and to its U.S. board of directors. Most recently, she served as VP of sales, North America, at Ontex.
Boulder Care, an addiction medicine company, named Mitzi Yue head of finance and Meena Narayanan head of people. Previously, Yue was chief financial officer and chief strategy officer at Quilted Health. Narayanan was Teladoc Health’s people and total rewards leader.
Cohen & Steers, an investment manager, appointed Karen Wilson Thissen to its board of directors. She is general counsel and secretary at General Mills.
American International Group, an insurance company, appointed Courtney Leimkuhler to its board of directors. She is the cofounder and managing partner of Springbank.
ON MY RADAR
‘Broken since the beginning’: What went wrong inside the Harris campaign NOTUS
To elect a woman president, we need men Marie Claire
What can women do now? The Atlantic
PARTING WORDS
“One thing about women is we don’t give up. We get better, we get better, we keep going.”
— Pinky Cole, CEO and founder of restaurant group the Slutty Vegan, reflecting on the election
