Michele A. Davis is the Global Head of Corporate Affairs at Morgan Stanley with responsibility for media relations, internal communications and philanthropy. She is also a member of the Firm's Management Committee. Between 2001 and 2009, Michele served in a number of senior communications positions in the

U.S. Treasury Department The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

Fannie Mae The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and, since 1968, a publicly traded company. Founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the N ...

, and the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

. Among her posts in the Bush White House, Michele served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Communications. In her last government position, she served as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and

Director of Policy Planning The Director of Policy Planning is the United States Department of State official in charge of the department's internal think tank, the Policy Planning Staff. In the department, the Director of Policy Planning has a rank equivalent to Assistant ...

in the U.S. Department of Treasury for former Secretary

Hank Paulson Henry Merritt Paulson Jr. (born March 28, 1946) is an American banker and financier who served as the 74th United States Secretary of the Treasury from 2006 to 2009. Prior to his role in the Department of the Treasury, Paulson was the Chairman a ...

. She was also a senior member of the Treasury team addressing the Financial crisis of 2007–2009. Michele was portrayed by

Cynthia Nixon Cynthia Ellen Nixon (born April 9, 1966) is an American actress, activist, and theater director. For her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), she won the 2004 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supp ...

in ''

Too Big to Fail "Too big to fail" (TBTF) and "too big to jail" is a theory in banking and finance that asserts that certain corporations, particularly financial institutions, are so large and so interconnected that their failure would be disastrous to the great ...

''. She was later a partner at the Brunswick Group, a global corporate communications advisory firm.

Early life and education

Davis is a native of

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. She earned a B.S. in Foreign Service at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

in 1988 and an M.A. in economics from American University.American Action Network
, Michele Davis.

Early career

She began working as an advocate for free market economics at

Citizens for a Sound Economy Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) (1984–2004) was a conservative political group operating in the United States. It was established in 1984 by Charles and David Koch of Koch Industries. Ron Paul was appointed as the first chairman of the ...

from 1991 to 1994. From 1997 to January 2001, Michele served as Communications Director for the

House Majority Leader Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are ele ...

Dick Armey Richard Keith Armey (; born July 7, 1940) is an American economist and politician. He was a U.S. Representative from Texas's (1985–2003) and House Majority Leader (1995–2003). He was one of the engineers of the "Republican Revolution" of t ...

(R-Texas), during which time she advised Congressional leadership on communications strategy for the House agenda.

Years in the U.S. Department of Treasury and Fannie Mae

Michele Davis was nominated by President George W. Bush to be Assistant Treasury Secretary for Public Affairs on February 8, 2001. She was then confirmed by a unanimous vote by the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on August 3, 2001, and sworn in by Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill on August 7, 2001. In this role, Davis was "the Department's lead representative for media, business, professional trade organizations, consumer groups and the public."PR Newswire

Announces Departure of Arne Christenson; Michele Davis To Serve as Acting Senior Vice President - Regulatory Policy Davis also oversaw the Office of Public Liaison and the Office of Public Education. Davis did not stay in the Treasury Department for long, however. She soon went on to work as the Senior Vice President for Regulatory Policy at Fannie Mae in 2002, where she was "responsible for the company's public policy research activities and policy development on a wide range of issues related to mortgage financing and the capital markets" and assumed the duties of "managing the company's relationship with its regulators." Her predecessor at Fannie Mae, Arne L. Christenson, moved on to a new position as Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and head of American Express Company's Washington, DC office. In 2005, Michele was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Global Outreach.

Mitt Romney presidential campaign

On August 2, 2012, Davis was hired by the Mitt Romney presidential campaign as a corporate public relations specialist to help guide their response to questions about Romney's time in the private sector with Bain Capital.

Political views

In 2013, Davis was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.

References

External links

Interview of Davis on PBS Frontline
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Michele Businesspeople from Louisville, Kentucky Living people United States Department of the Treasury officials Year of birth missing (living people)