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Karen Hughes, former counselor to President George W. Bush and undersecretary of state during his administration, will discuss her experiences in politics, public policy and communications at a Feb. 25 Boston College appearance.
Hughes, now global vice chair of the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, will present “The CEOs of Leadership: Clarity, Example and Optimism” at 4 p.m. in Gasson 100. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics as part of its Clough Colloquium, along with the Carroll School of Management.
A former television news reporter, Hughes worked as Texas press coordinator for the Reagan presidential campaign in 1984, and later became executive director of the Republican Party of Texas. In 1994, she began working with Bush, first as director of his Texas gubernatorial campaign, and then as counselor on policy and communications during his presidency from 2001-02.
After a two-year leave, she rejoined Bush for his 2004 presidential campaign, and in 2005 became undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, with the responsibility of helping improve the international community’s perceptions of America. She resigned from the post in 2007, and joined Burson-Marsteller in 2008.
Hughes is the author of Ten Minutes from Normal, a memoir of her experiences with President Bush. In the spring of 2013, she was a resident fellow at the Harvard University Institute of Politics.