DANA PERINO

'Dana Marie Perino' (born May 9 1972) currently occupies the positions of deputy White House Press Secretary and director of communications for the press team. From March 27 to April 30 2007 she was the Acting White House Press Secretary while Tony Snow underwent treatment for a recurrence of colon cancer. On August 31, 2007, President George W. Bush announced that current White House Press Secretary Tony Snow will be resigning his post effective September 14, 2007 and that Perino would be his replacement. She will be the second woman to serve as Press Secretary.

Contents

Early life and career

Deputy Press Secretary and Acting Press Secretary

References

Early life and career

Perino was born in Evanston, Wyoming, and grew up in Denver, Colorado. She attended Ponderosa High School in Parker, Colorado, a suburb of Denver.Rocky Mountain News profile Perino graduated from the University of Southern Colorado in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in mass communications and a minor in both political science and Spanish. While attending the university, Perino was active on the debate team and with KTSC-TV, the campus-based PBS affiliate where she served as host of ''Capitol Journal'', a weekly summary of Colorado politics, and producer of ''Standoff'', a weekly public affairs program. From there, Perino attended graduate school at the University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS). Perino obtained her masters at UIS in Public Affairs Reporting while also working as a daily reporter covering the Illinois Capitol for WCIA-TV, a CBS affiliate.
Perino then went on to work in Washington, D.C., for Representative Scott McInnis of Colorado as a staff assistant before serving nearly four years as the press secretary for Rep. Dan Schaefer (R-CO-Retired), who then chaired a House Commerce subcommittee on Energy and Power.
After Representative Schaefer announced his retirement, Perino moved to England to marry businessman Peter McMahon . After a year in England, Perino and McMahon moved back to the United States and resided in San Diego, California, for three years. During that time, Perino worked in the field of high-tech public affairs.
In November 2001, Perino returned to Washington, D.C. to serve as a spokesperson for the Department of Justice. Several months later, she was asked to join the White House where she served as the Director of Communications for the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). By statute, the CEQ oversees the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act, where all federal agencies must complete environmental assessments on their activities before they take action.

Deputy Press Secretary and Acting Press Secretary

Dana Perino, George W. Bush and Tony Snow.

On March 31, 2006, President George W. Bush named Perino as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Press Secretary. In the role, Perino communicated many times a day with the President's director of communications, his press secretary and his director of media affairs, handling all environment-related media calls for the White House, as well as serving as the spokesperson for the White House on environmental issues. In addition, she served as the coordinator for all agencies on environment, energy and natural resource issues, as well as reviewing and approving the agencies' major announcements, while keeping the other White House offices apprised of CEQ actions.
From March 27 to April 30, 2007, Perino served as Acting Press Secretary for the White House and ran press briefings while Press Secretary Tony Snow underwent treatment for colon cancer that spread to his liver.

References