Geoff Morrell (spokesperson)


Geoffrey S. Morrell is an American public affairs official who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, and was the Press Secretary for the US Department of Defense. He was hired to the latter position in June 2007 and departed in July 2011 to join BP in September.

Early life and education

Morrell graduated from the Lawrenceville School in 1987, earned a bachelor's degree in 1991 from Georgetown University and a master's degree in journalism in 1992 from Columbia University.

Professional career

Morrell began his reporting career in 1992 at KATV-TV in Little Rock, Arkansas, covering the presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. In 1994, he took a job as a reporter at WSET-TV in Lynchburg/Roanoke, and in 1995, Morrell joined KSAZ-TV in Phoenix as a TV news reporter. In 1996, Morrell joined WBBM-TV in Chicago in the same capacity. While working as for WBBM-TV in Chicago, Morrell appeared in the 1998 movie The Negotiator playing himself as a news reporter.
Morrell left WBBM-TV in early 2000 and joined ABC News, working in both the network's Chicago and Washington, D.C. bureaus. He was an ABC White House television correspondent for four years. In 2007, Morrell resigned from ABC after seven years with the network to be appointed the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs where he served under two presidents. Morrell resigned upon Secretary Robert Gates' retirement in July 2011 and was replaced by George E. Little.
In September 2011, Morrell joined BP as a vice-president and the company's head of US communications and in September 2013 became the company's senior vice president of US communications and external affairs. As head of communications and external affairs, Morrell was in charge of government and media relations, internal communications, community affairs and philanthropy in the U.S.
It was reported in 2017 that Morrell would be moving to London to become head of group communications and external affairs, where he is in charge of BP's global government media relations, internal communications and community affairs.