Cheri Summerall – Kennedy Center Trustee, Stepmother of Susie Wiles
Category: Kennedy Center Trustee
Appointed: Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, February 2025 (term expiring September 1, 2030, replacing Elizabeth E. Alexander)
Priority: P3 (Family connection to White House Chief of Staff raises nepotism concerns; participated in illegal renaming vote)
Basis for Inclusion
Subject classification: Presidential Appointee to federally chartered institution (non-speech anchor: board membership and renaming vote)
Basis: Cheri Summerall was appointed to the Kennedy Center board at the same time her stepdaughter, Susie Wiles (White House Chief of Staff), was appointed to the same board — creating an unusual family cluster. Her primary public profile is as a philanthropist and widow of NFL sportscaster Pat Summerall. She participated in the December 2025 vote to rename the Kennedy Center — declared null, void, and without legal effect by a federal court.
Background
Cheri Summerall was married to Pat Summerall — the legendary New York Giants placekicker and longtime NFL/golf/tennis sportscaster — who died in April 2013. Pat Summerall was Susie Wiles’s father, making Cheri Wiles’s stepmother.
Cheri Summerall has worked as a philanthropist, particularly for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, helping to organize the annual “Legends for Charity” dinner at which the Pat Summerall Award is given. This philanthropic work represents her primary credential for any cultural institution appointment.
Documented Actions
1. Kennedy Center Appointment — Alongside Her Stepdaughter
On February 12, 2025, both Cheri Summerall and Susie Wiles were named to the Kennedy Center board simultaneously. Wiles serves as Trump’s White House Chief of Staff — the most powerful non-presidential position in the executive branch. The simultaneous appointment of a chief of staff and her stepmother to the same board raises obvious nepotism concerns.
2. Illegal Renaming Vote (December 2025)
As a board member, Cheri Summerall was part of the board that voted to rename the Kennedy Center on December 18, 2025. A federal court declared this vote null, void, and without legal effect on May 30, 2026.
Cross-References
Related profiles: susie-wiles-profile, kennedy-center-board-overview
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Investigative trail pointers (public records)
Education only — verify independently. Absence of hits is not proof.
| Channel | Starting points |
|---|---|
| Federal courts | CourtListener / PACER party and attorney searches (spelling variants) |
| Campaign finance | FEC + OpenSecrets for committees and donors tied to documented roles |
| Corporate / LLC | State secretary of state; OpenCorporates for cross-border shells from reporting |
| Sanctions / PEP | OpenSanctions when international business context is already sourced |
| Contracts / grants | USAspending.gov for named entities from investigations |
Use public-records-research-specialist, corporate-intelligence-investigator, and public-corruption-ombudsman evidence tiers.
Sources
- TheaterMania, “Story of the Week: Trump Appointed 14 New Kennedy Center Trustees. Then They Elected Him Chair,” February 2025.
- White House Press Release, February 2025.
- Kennedy Center press release, February 12, 2025.
- U.S. District Court, D.D.C., Beatty v. Kennedy Center, May 30, 2026.
Last Updated: June 2, 2026