Geoff Morrell (spokesperson)
American public affairs official (born 1968)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Geoffrey S. Morrell (born November 1968) is the president of Global Strategy & Communications at Teneo, a public relations and advisory firm.[1] In 2022, he was the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Disney for three months before resigning.[2] He served as the Executive Vice President of Communications and Advocacy at BP from 2011 to 2021.[3][4][5] From 2007 to 2011, he was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and the press secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.[6][7]
Geoff Morrell | |
|---|---|
Morrell gives a briefing at the Pentagon on March 25, 2009. | |
| Born | 1968 (age 57–58) |
| Education | The Lawrenceville School |
| Alma mater | Georgetown University Columbia University |
| Occupation | chief corporate affairs officer |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Pentagon Press Secretary/Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs | |
| In office 2007–2011 | |
| President | George W. Bush Barack Obama |
| ABC News White House Correspondent | |
| In office 2000–2007 | |
Early life and education
Morrell graduated from the Lawrenceville School in 1987,[8] then earned a bachelor's degree in 1991 from Georgetown University and a master's degree in journalism in 1992 from Columbia University.[7]
Professional career
Morrell began his reporting career in 1992 at KATV-TV in Little Rock, Arkansas, covering the presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. He worked as a reporter at WSET-TV in Lynchburg/Roanoke in 1994; at KSAZ-TV in Phoenix in 1995; and at WBBM-TV in Chicago in 1996.[7] While working as for WBBM-TV, Morrell played himself in the 1998 movie The Negotiator.[9]
Morrell left WBBM-TV in early 2000 and joined ABC News, working in the network's Chicago and Washington, D.C., bureaus. He was an ABC White House television correspondent for four years.[10] In 2007, Morrell resigned from ABC to be appointed the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, where he served under two presidents.[7] Morrell resigned upon Secretary Robert Gates' retirement in July 2011 and was replaced by George E. Little.
In September 2011, Morrell joined BP as a vice-president and the company's head of U.S. communications. Two years later, he became the company's senior vice president of U.S. communications and external affairs;[11] he was in charge of government and media relations, internal communications, community affairs and philanthropy in the U.S.[12]
In 2017, he moved to London to become head of group communications and external affairs, leading BP's global government media relations, internal communications, and community affairs.[13][14][15] In 2020, Morrell was appointed Executive Vice President of Communications and Advocacy at BP.[5]
In January 2022, Morrell left BP to oversee “communications, government relations, public policy, philanthropy and environmental issues” as Disney's Chief Corporate Affairs Officer.[2][16][17][18] During his tenure, Disney had become embroiled in a dispute with Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida laws regarding parental educational rights and teaching of gender identity: Florida had enacted a law requiring the termination of Disney's special self-governing tax and improvement district that governed 25,000 acres of Disney World.[19] Morell resigned from Disney on April 29, 2022, saying that "for a number of reasons it is not the right fit" and that he would "pursue other opportunities".[20] During his three-month stint at Disney, he was paid over $10 million.[21]
