Dori Thornton Waller

A Chattanooga, Tennessee, native, Dori Thornton Waller graduated from GPS in 1999. Upon completing her degree at the University of Tennessee, Waller moved to Washington, D.C., to pursue a career in event planning. After two years at a fundraising and event planning firm, Waller landed at the White House, where she became the youngest Deputy Social Secretary in recent history, executing some of the most demanding and meticulous events in the world. In 2009, when President and Mrs. Bush returned to Texas, Waller returned to Tennessee and started The Social Office, a Nashville-based firm that plans high-end events for social clients and corporations throughout the southeast. In 2012, she married a fellow Chattanoogan, Blake Waller, and returned to her hometown. While she lives and works from Chattanooga, most of her clients remain in Nashville, so she commutes back and forth as needed, handling everything from children’s birthday parties to country music awards shows and even the occasional event for President and Mrs. Bush in Dallas.