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Heather Nauert is a State Department spokesperson who was appointed by President Donald Trump to replace Nikki Haley for the role of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
Prior to being tapped to her role in April, 2017, Nauert had a long career as a reporter and anchor for multiple news organizations, most recently Fox News. She also has a few acting stints to her name.
According to her IMDB biography, Nauert was born on January 27, 1970, in Rockford, Illinois. Nauert is married to an investment banker named Scott Norby, and has two children with him. Her father, Peter Nauert, was well-known in the health insurance industry and passed away in 2007.
“She’s very talented, very smart, very quick, and I think she’s going to be respected by all,” Trump said.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Nauert Has Quickly Become a Frontrunner for the UN Ambassador Position
Nauert has been a frontrunner for the UN Ambassadorship to replace Nikki Haley, according to several publications. Fox News reported on Thursday, December 6 that a senior administration official confirmed that Trump and Nauert had met in the Oval Office earlier in the day and that he’d offered her the position. Neither Nauert nor Trump have publicly confirmed any of this.
Nauert is not the only person who’s been under speculation for the role. U.S. Ambassador to France Jamie McCourt was also under consideration, according to Fox News.
As early as November, Nauert was reported as being under consideration for the ambassadorship. With that said, there were differing opinions: on November 29 Politico announced that Nauert was “out of contention” for the position, and that Trump was seriously considering Michigan Republican John James, as well as Ric Grenell, the U.S. Ambassador to Germany.
2. Nauert Worked as a Fox News Reporter & Anchor For Several Years Before Joining the State Department
Nauert held positions at multiple news publications from 2005-2007, including work as a general assignment correspondent at ABC News, where she was nominated for an Emmy for her work.
In 2007, Nauert received a co-host position with John Gibson on Fox News for the weekday edition of The Big Story. Per Nauert’s bio on the State Department’s official site, she was responsible for “overseeing breaking news” while she worked on The Big Story, but she also “regularly solo anchored programs on Fox and contributed to every news platform, including radio and internet, covering global and domestic crises and interviewing senior elected and military officials.”
During her time at ABC, Nauert worked as a network correspondent and was a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, per the bio. Before her work as a journalist in any capacity, Nauert was a health insurance consultant in Washington, D.C. She went to Mount Vernon College for her undergraduate degree and Columbia University for her graduate degree in journalism.
In addition to her reporting work, Nauert has some experience with acting, with two small stints to her name on the shows Brother’s Keeper and 24. Surprisingly enough, all of her acting credits cite her playing herself, and playing a news anchor for one episode of 24.
Her IMDB page also lists extensively all of the reporting and journalism roles she’s taken over the years, including: correspondent on The Big Story, correspondent on Good Morning America, herself on The O’Reilly Factor, herself on CNN Newsroom, and news anchor on Fox & Friends.
3. In April, Nauert Was Selected to Be Spokesperson for the United States Department of State
Toner is out, former Fox News anchor Heather Nauert is in as US @statedept spokesperson
Nauert was tapped in April to become the new State Department spokesperson. It was her first role in government. In a statement, the State Department announced Nauert’s entry to the role and praised her work covering “foreign and domestic events.”
The statement read, “Nauert comes to the department with more than 15 years of experience as an anchor and correspondent covering both foreign and domestic news and events, including the 9/11 terror attacks, the war in Iraq, and the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. Heather’s media experience and long interest in international affairs will be invaluable as she conveys the administration’s foreign policy priorities to the American people and the world.”
Following the dismissal of Steve Goldstein in March of 2018, Nauert was moved into the role of Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.
4. Nauert’s Father, Peter Nauert, Was an Insurance Executive Who Died of Cancer in 2007
Peter Nauert, 64, died in 2007, after a brief battle with cancer, per his obituary in The Chicago Tribune. Nauert was known for being a pioneer of sorts in the health-insurance industry: his father, Robert Nauert, had founded Pioneer Life Insurance Company of Illinois, and he went on to found his own company, Insurance Capital Management Inc., a national insurance marketing organization.
At the time of his death, Nauert left behind his four children (Heather and her siblings Justin, Jonathan, and Joseph). Little is known about Heather Nauert’s mother.
5. Nauert Is Married to Scott Norby & Has Two Children
Nauert is married to Scott Norby, an investment banker, and has two children with him. Nauert often posts pictures of her husband and children on her Instagram.
According to Married Biography, Nauert and Norby were married in 2000. They welcomed their first son, Peter Raymond, in 2009, and their second son, Gage William, in 2010. As of 2017, Norby was working as the Managing Director at USB Investment Bank. Norby attended the University of Wisconsin as an undergraduate, then received his business degree from the University of Chicago.
Prior to her accepting a position with the State Department, Nauert and Norby lived in a two-story home in Long Island, per an AdWeek article from 2007. They also had three German Shepard dogs in 2007, though it’s unclear if that’s still the case.