Courtney Parella is the Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, where she leads strategic communications, oversees press operations for the Secretary and Deputy Secretary, and serves as the department’s lead media spokesperson.
Prior to her appointment, Ms. Parella drove messaging strategy as Director of Communications for the House Republican Leadership super PAC Congressional Leadership Fund and its sister organization, American Action Network. During the 2022 midterm elections, she served as a Regional Press Secretary at the National Republican Congressional Committee, working closely with House candidates and Members of Congress in the Pacific Northwest and Midwest. In the 2020 presidential campaign, she was a Deputy National Press Secretary for President Trump’s reelection campaign.
Ms. Parella previously spent six years on the Hill in various communications roles, most recently as Communications Director for the Committee on House Administration under former Ranking Member Rodney Davis and former Chairman Gregg Harper. She began her career in Washington as an intern for the late Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi, her home state.