Michele A. Davis served in a number of senior communications positions in the U.S. Treasury Department, Fannie Mae, and the White House during the George W. Bush era from 2001 to January 20, 2009. In her last government position, she served as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and Director of Policy Planning in the U.S. Department of Treasury, where she advised Secretary Hank Paulson. She was also a senior member of the Treasury team addressing the credit crisis of 2007-2009 in 2008. She was protrayed by Cynthia Nixon in Too Big to Fail.
She is currently a Partner at the Brunswick Group [1], a global corporate communications advisory firm.[1]
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Davis is a native of Louisville, Kentucky. She earned a B.S. in Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1988 and an M.A. in economics from American University.[2]
She began working as an advocate for free market economics at Citizens for a Sound Economy from 1991 to 1993. From 1997 to January 2001, Michele served as Communications Director for the House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), during which time she advised Congressional leadership on communications strategy for the House agenda and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Public Affairs under Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.[3]
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 as by a unanimous vote by the U.S. Senate 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."[4] Davis also oversaw the Office of Public Liaison and the Office of Public Education.[5]
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.[4]
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.