Congratulations to Alumna, Lauren Claffey ’01!

Lauren Claffey ’01 graduated from the University of Georgia in 2008 with a B.S.
in Psychology and, thinking she wanted to go to law school in the fall, moved to Washington,
D.C. in January of 2009 to intern for Georgia’s U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson. She decided to stay
when she met U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss in an elevator in the Capitol and started her first job
sorting mail for him three days later.

Lauren worked for Sen. Chambliss for the next five years, primarily as his press secretary and
later his communications director, managing his relationships with the media and serving as his
spokesperson for issues ranging from national defense to agriculture to reducing our national
debt. While working for Sen. Chambliss, she also enrolled at Georgetown University, earning
her master’s degree in Corporate Communications and Public Relations. After Sen. Chambliss
retired in 2014, she began working for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on
Homeland Security as the communications director, managing the committee’s
communications strategy on issues such as border security, terrorism, natural disaster
preparedness and response, and cybersecurity.

After her work on Capitol Hill, Lauren began consulting Fortune 500 companies, trade
associations, and non-profits on public affairs and communications strategies. She served as a
media advisor for Senate and Congressional campaigns throughout the country and appeared
frequently on CNN and Fox News to offer commentary on political communications.
She later moved to Atlanta, Georgia to work for Southern Company, running corporate
communications for the company and serving as a senior advisor to the CEO.

In 2017, Lauren moved back to Washington to serve as a political appointee in the Trump
Administration, as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of
Homeland Security. In this role, she worked with other federal agencies and the White House to
counter terrorist use of the internet, combat the foreign influence of our election systems, prepare
and respond to natural disasters, and protect critical infrastructure from cyber-attacks.

Lauren recently left government service to start her own public relations and strategic
communications consulting firm, Claffey Communications. She still lives in Washington, D.C.
with her two sisters, Leigh and Leslie.