Cliff Sims

Cliff Sims is a former senior communications aide to President Donald J. Trump and author of The New York Times best-selling book, TEAM OF VIPERS: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House. Cliff is currently the President of C.D. Sims & Co., a boutique consulting firm through which he helps corporations, CEOs, and public figures with a wide range of public affairs, communications, and media needs.

From President Trump’s inauguration in January 2017 through May 2018, Cliff served as Special Assistant to the President and Director of White House Message Strategy. In this role, he led the White House’s messaging operation, advising the President and senior officials on communications and messaging strategy. He spearheaded the Administration’s communications and messaging for major initiatives, including the successful passage of tax reform and the confirmation of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Sims was also responsible for the production of the President’s video recordings, staffed the President for media interviews, led a weekly briefing for members of Congress on communicating the President’s priorities, and wrote countless presidential remarks, talking points, op-eds, press releases, readouts, and statements. Prior to joining the President’s staff in the West Wing, Cliff was a Communications Advisor for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, based in Trump Tower in Manhattan.

From 2011 to 2016, Cliff was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Yellowhammer Multimedia in Birmingham, Alabama. In this role, he oversaw all day-to-day company operations and built Yellowhammer News into the go-to content platform for Alabama political and business leaders, as well as millions of readers around the state and nation. He launched the Yellowhammer News Radio Network, which now includes over 30 stations, and hosted a daily radio program, interviewing dozens of national figures. He sold the company upon accepting a job in the White House.

Prior to founding Yellowhammer, Cliff worked in the music industry as both an artist and businessman. He has had songs featured on MTV and in major motion pictures, helped manage a roster of award-winning producers, and produced and promoted large concert events. He has also been a voting member of The Recording Academy, the famed organization that selects the winners of the annual GRAMMY Awards.

Cliff played college basketball at Delta State University and at Enterprise State Community College before graduating Magna Cum Laude from the University of Alabama. He now serves on the University of Alabama’s Community Affairs Board of Advisors and has been a guest lecturer in the university’s political science department. Cliff and his wife, Megan, live in Washington, DC.