Mike Sommers

Mike Sommers is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Investment Council. Prior to joining the AIC, Sommers spent two decades in public service in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the White House. From Congress to the West Wing, Sommers crafted and executed a wide range of political and legislative strategies centered on the nation’s most pressing issues. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan called him “one of the best people I have come across in public service” and “smart, steady and with unquestioned integrity.” House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer said he is “well known and well liked on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue and incredibly talented both as a manager and policy expert.” Most recently, Sommers was Chief of Staff to Speaker of the House John A. Boehner (R-OH). In this capacity, he was the top staffer in the House of Representatives and advised the Speaker and House leadership on all matters before the Congress. Sommers has been at the center of every major policy dispute in the last decade and successfully negotiated bipartisan compromises on landmark legislation, including the Trouble Asset Relief Program (TARP) in 2008, the resolution of the fiscal cliff in 2013, the Bipartisan Budget Agreement of 2015 and trade promotion authority in 2015. Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill, named Sommers one of the top staffers on Capitol Hill for each of the past 10 years and in 2015 named him one of the top 50 staffers in the last 50 years. Sommers has been profiled in Politico, The Hill and National Journal. In 2005, he was selected by his peers to head of the Republican Chiefs of Staff association. Prior to being named Chief of Staff to the Speaker, Sommers served Boehner in other capacities, including Deputy Chief of Staff, Policy Director, Legislative Director and Press Secretary. Sommers also served as Special Assistant to President George W. Bush at the National Economic Council at the White House in 2005. In this capacity, he advised the President on agriculture, trade and food policy. A native of Naperville, Illinois, Sommers is a graduate of the honors program at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. While an undergraduate at Miami, he was awarded the President’s Distinguished Service Medal – the highest honor given to a Miami undergraduate. He is married to Jill Sommers, a former Commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). They have three children and live in Alexandria, Virginia.