William Nixon

For other uses, see William Nixon (disambiguation).

William Holladay Nixon (born November 29, 1958 in Washington, D.C.) is chairman and chief executive of Policy Impact Communications, Inc., a full-service public and government relations company. After working as a speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan, Nixon served for more than 15 years as a senior staff member and speech writer on Capitol Hill, the majority of the time with Republican Senator William Roth of Delaware. He also worked for Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, and on the staffs of the United States Senate Committee on Finance and Government Affairs Committee. Nixon is also the author of several published books. The first, Strategic Compromise, was published in 1990.

Childhood and youth

Nixon grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, where his father, a current Federal Immigration Judge, worked as an attorney and corporate CEO. He first became involved in politics as a 16-year-old in the 1976 Senate campaign of Orrin Hatch. It was during that campaign that he became interested in the relationship between politicians, public policy, the media, and the power of persuasive communication. After serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Sevilla, Spain, he graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he attended on a football scholarship, playing center prior to the arrival of National Football League quarterback Randall Cunningham, and was the editor-in-chief of The Rebel Yell, the student newspaper. He later studied political communications at Maryland Community College, College Park.

Journalism and literary career

Nixon began his professional career as a journalist, founding and editing American Times Magazine, a regional conservative publication that focused on politics and culture, and working as associate editor of The Las Vegan City Magazine. He served as editor of Quicksilver, a literary journal, and in 1990 published his first book, a novel entitled Strategic Compromise. Nixon's articles, essays, and short stories have appeared in magazines and journals throughout the world. His work is translated regularly, particularly into Mandarin, Chinese, as he is a monthly contributor to the popular CUP Magazine, often referred to as China's Vanity Fair.

In 1998, he co-authored The Power to Destroy with Senator William Roth. The book was an exposé documenting the historic Senate oversight hearings involving the Internal Revenue Service.

Lobbying career

In 2001, Nixon was hired by Haley Barbour, former chairman of the Republican National Committee and chairman of Policy Impact Communications to serve as president of the company which was founded by, among others, Barbour and Ed Gillespie in 1996. Upon Barbour's election to serve as Governor of Mississippi in 2003, Nixon became chairman of Policy Impact Communications. In 2009, the firm was hired by the government of Kazakhstan to assist in a public relations campaign in response to the film Borat.

Prior to joining Policy Impact Communications, Nixon served as president and chief executive of the Generic Pharmaceutical Association from 1999 to 2001, During the Bahraini uprising, it was reported that Policy Impact Communications established the Bahrain American Council to lobby politicians, such as Eni Faleomavaega, to support Bahrain.

Personal life

In 1980, he married Tamera McDonald. The couple have three children and a son-in-law, and reside in Alexandria, Virginia. Nixon is a Fellow at the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics and serves as a member of the National Presidential Advisory Board at Utah Valley University.

Nixon is also frequently called upon to speak on governmental issues to groups throughout the country.

Since 2004 Nixon has served as president of the Mount Vernon Virginia Stake of the LDS Church