Scott Stanzel ’95: From White House to the West Coast

Eighteen months ago, Scott Stanzel helped George W. Bush exit the White House, watching as the outgoing president transitioned to life as a private citizen.

Only then did he turn to himself.

“Those final days, I was as busy as I had ever been – and I wasn’t thinking that much about what my next job would be,” says Stanzel, who ended his tenure as deputy press secretary. “I was at the White House until January 20. I stopped getting paid at noon that day.”

He knew a couple things: His next job would not be in Washington, D.C., and it probably wouldn’t be in politics. Beyond that, he had a lot of things to consider.

Stanzel, now 37 years old, graduated from Iowa State in 1995 after a campus tenure that included involvement in VEISHEA, the ISU Student Alumni Association, and the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He only dabbled in campus politics, helping a friend get elected as president of the Government of the Student Body.

After graduation, however, the Sac City native built a career in Republican politics, spending time in the 1996 Robert Dole presidential campaign, the office of Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the Bush campaigns and the Bush White House. He left for two years to work in communications at Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Wash., and then returned to Washington for two final years in the White House press office.

Upon President Bush’s exit, Stanzel went back to Seattle, where he still owned his house from his Microsoft days. By June 2009, he had formed Stanzel Communications, a public relations firm that works for corporate clients as well as some political ones.

“It’s been a tremendous learning experience,” he says. “I had successes I hadn’t planned on, disappointments I couldn’t have predicted.”

One of those successes: He meshed his work for a company that produced online video advertising with his contacts in the political world to help them expand on their support of the successful Scott Brown Senate campaign in Massachusetts.

Despite the complexity and the challenges in starting a new business, Stanzel’s takeaway lesson is pretty simple: “If you do good work, and establish strong relationships with people, then you are setting yourself up for success,” he says. (In the video at left,  Stanzel talks about his career; the interview was with a Canadian public affairs program.)

His lesson for students coming out of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication is similar. Staying up-to-date with new technology is, of course, important. But relationships with people will always serve you – even as technology changes. “From my very first campaign, I took special care to keep track of people I spoke with,” he says. “I have records of every reporter I have ever talked with.”

“It’s very important to make sure you spend the time and take the care that is needed to develop relationships,” he adds. “And thank people for spending time talking with you – that makes a difference.”

Stanzel remains heavily involved with Iowa State, serving on both a Greenlee advisory council and the ISU Alumni Association’s board of directors.

–By Chris Adams