User:Rmcclen/Debbie Willhite

Debbie Willhite (born December 28th, 1951) is a United States of America Democratic political consultant and activist who has worked on six presidential campaigns, served as Policy Director for the Speaker of the House in Connecticut, and served as the National Coordinated Campaign Director for both the 1992 and 1996 Presidential campaigns of Bill Clinton. In addition, she has worked for every Democratic National Convention from 1980 thru 2008.

Bio
Debbie Willhite has been an activist, organizer, strategist, and consultant for Democratic candidates and progressives since 1978 on the local, state and national levels. Her call to Public Service has led her through the local, state, and national ranks.

Willhite’s political journey began while attending graduate school in Orlando, Florida. She volunteered in a congressional race where First Lady Rosalind Carter and Chip Carter made visits on behalf of her candidate. Soon after that she was hired to be Deputy Director for the Southern Region of the Democratic National Committee.

Since that time, Willhite has worked in six presidential races, and served as Policy Director for the Speaker of the House in Connecticut. She later served as the National Coordinated Campaign Director for both the 1992 and 1996 Presidential campaigns of Bill Clinton. In addition, she has worked for every Democratic National Convention from 1980 thru 2008.

From 1998 thru 2002, Willhite served as the Sr. Vice President of the USPS for Government Relations and Corporate Communications. In this capacity she managed more than 5,000 employees and administered a budget of over $300,000,000. She worked with Congress on a daily basis to manage the affairs of the USPS. She directed the redesign of the Communications department and led its adoption of new technology and strategies for internal and external communications. She was the chief spokesperson for the USPS during the 2001 anthrax attacks.

She gained international political experience by working in campaigns in South Africa and Equatorial Guinea and by serving as an adviser to the political parties in Northern Ireland. Her national experience includes work for state parties in Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Connecticut, and Colorado. In addition to this experience, Willhite has served in leadership roles for some of our nation’s largest political events. She worked on the Yankee Stadium event for Nelson Mandela upon his release from Robbins Island; was Event Director for the 1993 Presidential Inauguration; and was Co-Executive Director of the 1997 Presidential Inauguration. In addition, in 1997 Willhite served as Executive Director of the Denver Summit of the Eight - the first meeting of the G7 to include Russia.

Willhite was a partner at FieldWorks, Washington, D.C. from 2003 thru 2008. While there, she has directed many successful campaigns for clients that included the 2004 League of Conservation Voters canvass, the largest outreach to environmental voters executed at that time. Along with this, she led CANader, the successful grassroots campaign that targeted previous Nader voters and encouraged them to vote for the Democratic nominee rather than Nader. She also founded TIPPAC (Truth in Politics PAC) in Utah to bring attention to the corruption in the Salt Lake County GOP; and worked to structure VoteVets in 2006 and supported its initial political goal to elect supporters of the 21st Century veterans. In 2006-07 Willhite was instrumental in forging the successful bid of the Denver Host Committee to get the 2008 Convention to Denver.

Willhite returned to live in Arkansas in 2007. Since then she has continued her important work for the Democratic Party and progressive candidates. Most recently her efforts in Arkansas included work on Hillary Clinton’s campaign. She  served as field consultant to the 2006 campaigns of Governor Mike Beebe and Representative Kathy Webb. She helped organize Tobacco Free Kids, The Susan G. Komen “Share the Cure” campaign, and the Environmental Defense Fund. She ran the campaign of Alice Lightle for District Judge; and for Arkansas Families First. She has work with the House Democratic Caucus Leadership since 2008.

Personal Life
Willhite currently lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. She lived most of her life in Berryville, Arkansas, and is the founder of the GoFightWin Group, a political consulting company.