User:Cisleib/sandbox

Chris Isleib is a senior communications official for the United States government.

He is the spokesman for the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the organization creating the new National World War I Memorial, in Washington DC. The memorial is being designed by sculptor Sabin Howard and architect Joseph Weishaar, and will be located at Washington's Pershing Park, which is next to the White House. The Centennial Commission was created by Congress in 2014, to provide education programs, public outreach, and commemorative events, regarding the role of America in the war.

In 2012-2014, Isleib served as the Director of Communications for the U.S. National Archives, managing communications and press relations for a variety of historical, cultural, and governmental topics.

Prior, he served in the Pentagon, in several roles as a communications official. He managed the press desk at the U.S. Air Force Headquarters from 2009-2012, a period marked by the U.S. Defense Department repeal of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, the purchase of major new weapons programs, including the U.S. Air Force KC-X Aerial Refueling Tanker, the U.S. government's response to devastating natural disasters in Haiti and Japan, as well as the ongoing combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also acted as a spokesman, first under Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and later Secretary Robert Gates, for topics related to Defense Department acquisitions, technology, budget, and logistics. In 2003, he was a spokesman for the start of the Iraq war, managing press query on issues related to post-war issues -- humanitarian aid, reconstruction, standup of the new government, and crimes by the Saddam Hussein regime (including the "52 Most Wanted Cards").

Isleib is a Board member of the nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, Purple Hearts Reunited, whose purpose is to return Purple Heart medals and other military awards, that have become separated from the original recipients or their descendants. He is also a member of the World War I Valor Medals Review Task Force, a group affiliated with Park University, who are conducting a systematic bias-review of combat medals awarded to minority military members when the U.S. Army was racially-segregated. He has also been personally involved in the legislative effort to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the U.S. Army Female Telephone Operators of World War I, aka the 'Hello Girls'.

Before his work in the Pentagon, he worked for ten years in film/television development, providing story notes, script coverage, and casting suggestions for several entertainment companies in Hollywood, including Icon Productions, New Line Cinema, Morgan Creek Entertainment, and the William Morris Agency.

He served for 23 years as an officer in the U.S. Navy, and U.S. Navy Reserves, and retired as a Captain. He holds a Masters Degree in Communication from Boston University, and a Bachelors Degree from the Creative Writing Program at the University of Southern California. His work has garnered the PRSA Silver Anvil and Bronze Anvil awards, the Graphis Advertising Gold Award, and the Communication Arts Award of Excellence.

He is originally from Syracuse, New York.