Sheila Tate

Sheila Tate served for twenty years as president and vice chairman of Powell Tate, the firm she co-founded in 1991 with Jody Powell, Presidential Press Secretary to President Jimmy Carter.  She retired in 2012.

Mrs. Tate’s political and government experience ranges from her 1981-85 service as White House Press Secretary to First Lady Nancy Reagan to the 1988-89 Presidential campaign and transition during which she served as press secretary for President-elect George H. W. Bush. She was also communications director for the successful 1996 Republican convention in San Diego.

Most of Mrs. Tate’s business career has been devoted to agency work. She was twice affiliated with Burson-Marsteller, and was also employed twice by Hill.

She served two five-year terms on the Board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), appointed by both Presidents Reagan and Bush.  She served as vice chairman from 1990-92 and chairman from 1992-94. She also served nine years on the National Advisory Board of the Salvation Army where she chaired the Community Relations and Development Committee.

Mrs. Tate was a member, an officer and director of the National Press Foundation for 10 years. She also served as chairman of the Civilian Public Affairs Committee for the United States Military Academy. During the George H. W. Bush administration she was a member of the United States Information Agency’s private sector public relations committee.  

In 2001, the Washingtonian magazine named her one of the “100 Most Powerful Women in Washington.”  In 1999, PRWeek selected her as one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Public Relations” and one of the “100 Most Influential PR People of the 20th Century.”

She was named to the Public Relations Society of America’s  National Capitol Hall of Fame in 2015.

Mrs. Tate, a native of Washington, DC, holds a B.A. in journalism from Duquesne University and has done graduate work in mass communications at the University of Denver.