Margaret Tutwiler
Margaret DeBardeleben Tutwiler (born December 28, 1950 in Birmingham) is currently the director of communications for Merrill Lynch and Co., and is a former Ambassador to Morrocco and was an Under Secretary for the U. S. State Department.
Tutwiler was born to Temple Tutwiler II, and Margaret DeBardeleben Tutwiler in Birmingham. She graduated from the Brooke Hill School for Girls and attended Finch College at New York from 1969-1971. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 1973.
She began her professional career in 1974 at the First National Bank of Birmingham. That same year she accepted the position of Office Manager and Executive Secretary to the Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party. In 1975 she was called to Washington as Assistant Office Manager for the Fund for Government Investors. From July 1975 to July 1976 she assumed the job of Executive Director of President Ford's Committee for Alabama.
She became Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and Public Liaison, for the United States Department of the Treasury from 1985 through 1988. From November 1988 to January 1989 she was senior advisor for the Transition team of the U.S. Department of State. She served briefly as consultant for the Department of State before she was promoted in March 1989 to the very important position of Assistant Secretary of State and spokesperson for the United States Department of State.
She was honored as one of 31 outstanding graduates of the University of Alabama at the 1993 centennial celebration of women at the University. She is a recipient of the Medal of Service Award from Birmingham-Southern College for her "exemplary public service," and is the youngest ever to be inducted into the Alabama Hall of Honor.
In August 1995, Miss Tutwiler was elected to the Board of Directors of Legg Mason Inc., the Baltimore-based securities brokerage and money managment firm. President George W. Bush nominated Margaret Tutwiler to be U.S. Ambassador to Morocco in 2001. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 9, 2003 as Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the U. S. State Department, serving from December 16, 2003 to June 30, 2004.
In July 2004, Tutwiler began directing communications for NYSE Euronext. On December 11, 2007, she was appointed head of communications for Merrill Lynch & Co.