About Gordon

Gordon Trowbridge brings to Ward Circle Strategies more than 30 years of high-stakes communications leadership across government, national security, and the media. A trusted strategist to Cabinet-level officials, members of Congress, and senior leaders across multiple federal agencies, he counsels clients on reputation management, strategic positioning, crisis communications, executive visibility, and narrative development in complex, fast-moving environments.

Gordon’s public sector leadership spans some of the most communications-intensive portfolios in the U.S. government. He served as Chief of Staff to Rep. Elissa Slotkin, guiding political strategy, messaging, and organizational operations. At the U.S. Department of Defense, he twice held top public affairs roles, including Acting Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Deputy Press Secretary, helping shape global messaging for the world’s largest and most scrutinized national security organization.

He also led communications for the National Nuclear Security Administration at the Department of Energy—overseeing messaging on nuclear security, nonproliferation, and advanced technology—and served as Communications Director for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, where he managed public communications on transportation innovation and safety.

Before entering government, Gordon spent two decades as a journalist covering the Pentagon, Congress, and presidential politics for The Detroit News, Army Times Publishing, and other outlets. His reporting background gives him a distinctive ability to anticipate media incentives, craft compelling stories, and translate complex information into clear, credible communication.

Gordon is a native of Columbus, Ind., home of the nation’s largest diesel engine manufacturer and its greatest collection of modern architecture. He lives in Washington, D.C. When he isn’t serving our clients, you can find him on his bike, with his nose in a book, or spending as much time as he can manage with his nieces and nephews.

Career Highlights

• Ward Circle Strategies, Senior Advisor
• Indiana University Bloomington, Executive Director, Executive Communications
• Rep. Elissa Slotkin, Chief of Staff
• Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Strategic Communications Director
• Office of the Secretary of Defense, Acting Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
• National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Director Of Public Affairs
• Ward Circle Strategies, Director
• Department of Defense, Deputy Press Secretary
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Communications Director
• Sen. Carl Levin, Speechwriter and Special Assistant
• The Detroit News, Washington correspondent
• Army Times Publishing Co., Senior staff writer

3 Fun Facts

• Gordon’s amateur bicycle racing career lasted nine races, two crashes, three broken ribs and one collapsed lung.
• Ask him about the time he got off the helicopter in the middle of the night at the wrong forward operating base in Iraq.
• As a child, he got a personal call from President Carter after he wrote the president asking for permission to see his great-grandmother in the hospital (despite being too young under the hospital’s rules). Permission was granted, but Gordon was too afraid to speak to the president for fear he was in trouble.