--- description: Find out why Susie Wiles is one of the 100 most influential people of 2026. title: Susie Wiles: The 100 Most Influential People of 2026 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7347ffa89b78d22/69dfb0133022bd92e1754670/T100-2026-Web-Susie-Wiles-241.png?branch=production --- Apr 15, 2026 # Susie Wiles by [Eric Cortellessa](/author/eric-cortellessa/) ## Eric Cortellessa Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent  Haiyun Jiang—The New York Times/Redux One of the most powerful unelected figures in government wears that mantle without flourish. Having successfully run Donald Trump’s Florida operations in 2016 and 2020, Susie Wiles took over his political enterprise in his darkest days, guiding him out of the wilderness and back to the White House. Now, as chief of staff, she commands a level of authority no one else in Trump’s orbit can match—imposing discipline on a West Wing long defined by factional infighting and building a culture of loyalty among the ranks. She is often the last person Trump listens to before making his biggest decisions. “Short of a family member, the level of trust he has in her is unprecedented,” says Trump’s longtime pollster Tony Fabrizio. After [Wiles’ cancer diagnosis in March](https://time.com/article/2026/03/16/susie-wiles-trump-white-house-chief-of-staff-breast-cancer-diagnosis-treatment/ "undefined"), Trump announced she would stay in her post while undergoing treatment. To staff, it was a testament to her discipline and resolve. To Trump, it underscored something more elemental: she is that rare adviser he cannot imagine governing without. _Cortellessa is a TIME senior correspondent_ Susie Wiles Is on the 2026 TIME100 List ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/susie-wiles/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/susie-wiles/"},"headline":"Susie Wiles","datePublished":"2026-04-15T11:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:31.648Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/susie-wiles/","keywords":["TIME 100","list","franchise","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7347ffa89b78d22/69dfb0133022bd92e1754670/T100-2026-Web-Susie-Wiles-241.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eric Cortellessa","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eric-cortellessa/"}],"creator":"Eric Cortellessa","articleSection":"TIME100","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7347ffa89b78d22/69dfb0133022bd92e1754670/T100-2026-Web-Susie-Wiles-241.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/time100/","name":"TIME100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-100/","name":"TIME 100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/susie-wiles/","name":"Susie Wiles"}}]}] ```