Geoffrey S. Morrell (born November 1968) is the president of Global Strategy & Communications at

Teneo Teneo is a public relations and advisory company. The company was founded in June 2011 by Declan Kelly, Paul Keary, and Doug Band, and as of 2025 has more than 1,600 employees located in 40 offices. In 2019, Teneo sold a majority stake to ...

, a

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

and advisory firm. In 2022, he was the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

for three months before resigning. He served as the Executive Vice President of Communications and Advocacy at BP from 2011 to 2021. From 2007 to 2011, he was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and the press secretary for the

U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, t ...

Early life and education

Morrell graduated from the

Lawrenceville School The Lawrenceville School is a Private school, private, coeducational College-preparatory school, preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Local government in New Jersey, unincorporated community of Lawrenceville, New Jers ...

in 1987, then earned a bachelor's degree in 1991 from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

and a master's degree in journalism in 1992 from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Professional career

Morrell began his reporting career in 1992 at

KATV KATV (channel 7) is a television station in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. The station's studios are located on Riverfront Drive in the Riverdale section northwest of downtown L ...

-TV in

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

, covering the presidential campaign of

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

. He worked as a reporter at

WSET-TV WSET-TV (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Lynchburg, Virginia, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Roanoke–Lynchburg market. The station is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and has studios on Langhorne Road ...

in Lynchburg/ Roanoke in 1994; at

KSAZ-TV KSAZ-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is owned and operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division alongside KUTP (channel 45), which airs MyNetw ...

in Phoenix in 1995; and at

WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's CBS network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington St ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 1996. While working as for WBBM-TV, Morrell played himself in the 1998 movie '' The Negotiator''. Morrell left WBBM-TV in early 2000 and joined

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

, working in the network's Chicago and Washington, D.C., bureaus. He was an ABC White House television correspondent for four years. In 2007, Morrell resigned from ABC to be appointed the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, where he served under two presidents. Morrell resigned upon Secretary

Robert Gates Robert Michael Gates (born September 25, 1943) is an American intelligence analyst and university president who served as the 22nd United States secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011. He was appointed by President George W. Bush and retained b ...

' retirement in July 2011 and was replaced by George E. Little. In September 2011, Morrell joined BP as a vice-president and the company's head of U.S. communications. Two years later, he became the company's senior vice president of U.S. communications and external affairs; he was in charge of government and media relations, internal communications, community affairs and philanthropy in the U.S. In 2017, he moved to London to become head of group communications and external affairs, leading BP's global government media relations, internal communications, and community affairs. In 2020, Morrell was appointed Executive Vice President of Communications and Advocacy at BP. In January 2022, Morrell left BP to oversee “communications, government relations, public policy, philanthropy and environmental issues” as

Disney's The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Chief Corporate Affairs Officer. During his tenure, Disney had become embroiled in a dispute with Florida's Governor

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and the Florida laws regarding parental educational rights and teaching of gender identity: Florida had enacted a law requiring the termination of Disney's special self-governing tax and improvement district that governed 25,000 acres of

Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Walt Disney Company. ...

. Morell resigned from Disney on April 29, 2022, saying that "for a number of reasons it is not the right fit" and that he would "pursue other opportunities". During his three-month stint at Disney, he was paid over $10 million.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morrell, Geoff S. United States Department of Defense officials 1968 births Living people Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Georgetown University alumni Lawrenceville School alumni BP people Place of birth missing (living people)