Our People

Veteran communications strategist, Tracey Schmitt founded Matador after nearly two decades of developing winning strategies for high profile leaders in the public, private and political sectors; including the White House, and three presidential campaigns.

On the front lines of Republican politics, she advised candidates and campaigns at the forefront of the national political and policy debates as the National Press Secretary for the Republican National Committee, a Spokeswoman for President George W. Bush’s re-election campaign, National Press Secretary for the 2005 Presidential Inaugural Committee, and the Deputy Communications Director and Spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin Presidential Campaign, in the fall of 2008.

​In the private sector, Tracey has counseled numerous business leaders and CEOs at the intersection of policy, government relations, and public relations. As Senior Vice President of Global Public Affairs at Emergent BioSolutions, a global biodefense and biopharmaceutical company, Schmitt led an award-winning team whose portfolio included Public Affairs, Global Public Relations, Investor Communications, Branding, and Corporate Social Responsibility.

She has been published in the New York Times and has appeared on network and cable television as a political analyst. Her work has taken her to over thirty countries across Europe, Asia, Middle East, Australasia, Africa, and Central America.

A graduate of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism, her graduate studies have included Executive Education programs at both the Harvard School of Business and Oxford University.