Dana W. White

Board Member

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Dana W. White joined IRI’s Board of Directors in 2020. Dana White is a leading foreign policy and communications advisor, who served as Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs under Secretary James Mattis until December 31, 2018. She currently serves as the Chief Communications Officer for Hyundai Motor North America and previously led a strategic communications firm where she specialized in advising executives on developing leadership and media skills.

Prior to joining the Department of Defense, White served as the Director of Policy and Strategic Communications for the Renault-Nissan Alliance in Paris, France. She was also a permanent staff member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee and a foreign policy advisor on the 2008 presidential campaign of the late Senator John McCain.

While based in Hong Kong, White was an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal and later served as the Taiwan Country Director in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and director of the Washington Roundtable for Asia-Pacific Press at the Heritage Foundation.

She began her career in Washington as a press secretary for the Republican Conference of the U.S. House of Representatives before becoming a publicist for the Fox News Channel.

Ms. White is also the recipient of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service and an MIT Seminar XXI National Security Fellow.