Education
At George Mason, Pfotenhauer studied under economist Walter Williams.
At George Mason, Pfotenhauer studied under economist Walter Williams.
She has been a Senior Policy Advisor and National Spokesperson with the 2008 John McCain presidential campaign and political commentator on Fox News, Cable News Network and Microsoft and National Broadcasting Company. She was also former Executive Vice President of (Council of Science Editors), former President of the Independent Women"s Forum, and former President of Americans for Prosperity (originally Council of Science Editors). She started her career as graduate research assistant to Walter East. Williams at George Mason University, where she was taking an Master of Arts in economics. After graduating from George Mason University, Pfotenhauer became chief economist at the Republican National Committee (1988).
She worked for George H. West. Bush"s transition team (1988) and then (until 1990) for Senator.
William L. Armstrong (R-Colorado). In 1990 she was appointed chief economist of the President"s Council on Competitiveness.
In 1995 Pfotenhauer joined as Executive Vice President for Policy. From 1996 to 2001, she served as Director of the Washington office for Koch Industries (KII).
She built and managed the District of Columbia team"s lobbying operation, Public Affairs Committee and all legislative and regulatory strategies in addition to jointly running KII"s government affairs operations globally.
The largest privately held company in the country, KII"s interests fell heavily in the energy, environment, transportation and tax fields. She ran multi-million dollar issue campaigns at the federal and state level She is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Women"s Forum (IWF) (2000–2005).
She was Vice Chairman of IWF"s Board of Directors from 2005 to 2007.
In 2002, Pfotenhauer was nominated by President George West. Bush to serve as a delegate to the United Nations" Commission on the Status of Women and served during the 46th session of the Commission. The Bush Administration also appointed her to the National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women.
Additionally, she served on advisory committees reporting directly to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and former Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham. From 2003 to 2007, Pfotenhauer led Americans for Prosperity, an American conservative political advocacy group.
She was an advisor for the 2008 John McCain presidential campaign.
During the campaign she sparked controversy by referring to areas of Virginia outside of Northern Virginia as "real Virginia", picking up on a Grand Old Party talking point that Sarah Palin promoted, namely that red states are the "real America" and more "pro-America". In 2011, Pfotenhauer appeared as a spokeswoman for Koch Industries on FoxNews and other media outlets. In 2013, Pfotenhauer was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v.
Perry case.