 Margaret Peterlin |
AT&T has hired Margaret Peterlin, who served as chief of staff for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during his 13-month run in Trump’s administration, as senior VP external and global affairs, based in Washington.
She takes over the duties of Bob Quinn, who retired in May, following news that AT&T paid $600K to Essential Consultants, which was run by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.
Essential Consulting was the vehicle used by Cohen to pay $130K in “hush money” to former porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence about an alleged affair with Trump.
Following news of AT&T's payment to Essential Consulting, CEO Randy Stephenson sent a memo to staffers saying "hiring Michael Cohen was a big mistake" that damaged the company's reputation.
Peterlin, a former Navy officer, reports to AT&T general counsel David McAtee, who had been handling Quinn’s job on an interim basis.
Prior to joining Tillerson’s team, Peterlin was global technology strategy officer at Mars Inc.
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