Patti Solis Doyle

Patti Solis Doyle was a longtime confidante to Hillary Clinton, worked on Clinton’s two races for Senate and became the first Latina to manage a presidential campaign (Clinton’s) in 2008 until a shakeup in the primary season. She later joined the Obama campaign, where she managed the Vice Presidential campaign of Joe Biden.

A prominent political campaign strategist, Solis Doyle has garnered unique insight into the most important campaigns of the past 30 years. Most recently, she was chief of staff for vice presidential operations at Obama for America, where she built a national team of policy, communications, political, and field operatives in advance of the nominee’s selection. She later managed day-to-day operations for vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden.

A close Clinton adviser for nearly two decades, Solis Doyle managed Hillary Clinton’s two triumphant races for New York Senate and founded and served as executive director of HILLPAC, a political action committee that became one of the largest and most successful sources of fundraising for Democrats. In 2007, she made history as the first Hispanic woman to lead a presidential effort in the United States.

Solis Doyle’s first job in politics was in her native Chicago as a campaign staffer for Richard M. Daley’s mayoral campaign. She then moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, to work on Gov. Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. She was one of the first staffers hired. Solis Doyle served in the White House as an assistant to the president and as director of scheduling and advance for the First Lady. In this capacity, she worked to promote Clinton administration policies on children, health care, and women’s issues.

Solis Doyle received the 2007 Latinas of Excellence Award from Hispanic Magazine for her accomplishments in the area of government, politics, and civil leadership and the Siempre Inspiran award from Siempre Mujer magazine, which honors remarkable Latinas whose achievements and contributions to their communities are helping shape the future of Hispanic women in this country. Hispanic Business Magazine counted her among America’s 100 Most Influential Hispanics.

Now, Solis Doyle consults for Utrecht & Phillips and is president of Solis Strategies, a company that offers strategic communication and political advice. She earned her bachelor’s degree in communications from Northwestern University.

The youngest of six children born to Santiago and Alejandrina Solis, who emigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1954, Solis Doyle is writing a memoir about her late father’s immigration story. He had a third grade education and worked as a janitor in Chicago to provide for his family.

Presented with the support of Women's Studies and Political Science students at UD.

Read about the event…