John G. Carlson-Former White House Assistant Press Secretary
Mr. Carlson has more than thirty years of domestic and international experience in full-time and consulting-based service to the government and private industry. The White House Assistant Press Secretary under President Nixon and Deputy Press Secretary under President Ford, Mr. Carlson was an integral part of the team that established diplomatic relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Subsequent to his White House service, he has held key positions with Fortune 500 companies, including Summa Corporation (Howard Hughes conglomerate) and Kilroy Realty, and a variety of mid-sized and multinational corporations in the areas of management and administration, domestic and international marketing and sales, with emphasis on Asia and Latin America.
Serving as Assistant Press Secretary to President Richard Nixon and Deputy Press Secretary to President Gerald Ford, Mr. Carlson played a critical operational role while in the White House in the normalization of U.S.-China relations and the stabilization of U.S. foreign policy in Asia in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. His duties included briefing the White House Press Corps on a daily basis, traveling with and attending virtually all major meetings in the U.S. with the President and handling major preparation work for the President’s press conferences. Mr. Carlson also worked with George H. W. Bush when he served as the U.S. representative to China during the Nixon and Ford administrations. After his White House government service, he stayed involved in furthering U.S. government-based business relations with China and in Vietnam. In addition, he has extensive ties in the Western Pacific to include the Islands of Guam, Saipan, Palau and Hawaii.
In the mid 1990s, Mr. Carlson returned for a time to national government service by serving first as the Campaign Manager for the successful bid of Jack Metcalf (Republican, Washington State) to the U.S. Congress and then by serving as Metcalf’s Chief of Staff in Washington, D.C. In this role he was the Congressman’s key strategist and handled a variety of government and commercial matters from issues affecting The Boeing Company to Indian Gaming.
Among his positions in senior management, Mr. Carlson created and implemented a strategy for all governmental relations at the international, federal, state and local levels for Texas Air Corporation as its Vice President of Corporate Relations. In this role, his accomplishments included leading the start-up of New York Air and managing White House approval of Texas Air’s acquisition of Continental Airlines. Prior to joining Texas Air Corp., Mr. Carlson was Regional Vice President for Hughes Airwest, where he increased sales and cut costs for the Northwest region, which encompassed over one-quarter of the airline, with 1000 employees, 14 cities and more than $110 million in annual revenues.
With Kilroy Industries, John served as the company’s Vice President of Marketing & Corporate Affairs for Kilroy’s extensive real estate holdings and new developments. He also initiated and managed Kilroy’s exploratory market investigations into China in the mid 1980s.
A native of Washington State, John received his BA in Business Administration from Washington State University (Pullman) and attended the University of Washington (Seattle) for his MBA. He served as a Lieutenant in the US military where he was an Army Airborne Ranger and led a 200-man unit as its Company Commander.