The Daily Gamecock

USC grad serves as Trump's inaugural committee CEO

A University of South Carolina graduate was named chief executive officer of President-elect Donald Trump's inaugural committee on Sunday. As CEO of the committee, Armstrong will oversee operations for the Presidential Inauguration ceremony in Washington on January 20.

Class of 1994 and 1999 (M.B.A.) alumna Sara Armstrong worked as a special assistant to former President George W. Bush and deputy chief of staff to former First Lady Laura Bush. The State reports that Armstrong also served as vice president of the 2016 Republican National Convention. 

Armstrong's father, now deceased, joined the Carolina community in the 1980s as an advertising professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications. She said that she was "probably influenced by [her] father" when choosing to pursue a business degree at USC. 

After she earned her masters degree, Armstrong went to Atlanta to work for General Motors Acceptance Corporation. When her husband accepted a job in Washington, D.C., in 2001, the couple moved there and Armstrong started herself on a more political path. 

By the end of 2002, Armstrong was the Deputy Director of the First Lady's Correspondence Office. Two years later, she became the Director of the Visitor's Office and took on the job of coordinating public White House events and tours.

"One of the most memorable parts of that job was greeting wounded warriors from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center when we would host them for tours," Armstrong said. "I was fortunate to meet these brave men and women and their families." 

In years leading up to her inaugural committee positions, Armstrong worked as the Director of Member Services for the Republican National Committee. She worked with both the RNC and its members to select candidates at the local, state and national levels and aid in their election process.

While Armstrong did not study political science during her time at USC, she has so far enjoyed her political career.

"This is a fascinating time to be at the heart of the Republican Party," Armstrong had said in 2009 while working for the RNC. "I have enjoyed learning more about politics, the process of elections and campaigns, and the operations of state parties." 

Armstrong keeps close ties to her USC roots and says that her brother also attended the university. She and her husband had their wedding reception at what is now McCutchen House, since the couple met while they were students.

Presidential Inaugural Committee chairman Thomas J. Barrack, Jr. showed confidence in Armstrong, saying she is "enormously prepared" to serve on the inaugural committee when Trump is sworn into office.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article116046183.html#storylink=cpy


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