David Reel Elected Chair of the Republican Committee in Talbot

David Reel has been unanimously elected as chair of the Republican Central Committee of Talbot County.

He succeeds Nick Panuzio who stepped down as the central committee chair at the end of last year.

Reel is the Maryland Director for Quantum Communications, a consulting firm that provides strategy advocacy and media counsel/services to businesses, not for profit organizations, professional societies, trade associations, education providers, political candidates and political campaigns.

He is also the Managing Partner of The Gladstone Group, a consulting firm that provides counsel to not for profit organizations on leadership, governance, and management matters, with a concentration on “Good to Great” initiatives; strategic planning and strategic thinking.

Reel’s first involvement in the political arena occurred when he took a one credit college course on campaigns and elections. The course required volunteering on a campaign and keeping a log of lessons learned. Following graduation, he applied these lessons learned as paid staff on a U.S. Senate primary campaign and as paid staff on a U.S. Congressional general election campaign.

He has served as Chief of Staff for a State Senator, as Executive Director for a State Senate Caucus Policy Committee, and as Legislative Liaison for a State Treasurer. As a freelance consultant during this time, he did GOTV targeting research for two successful State Senate general election campaigns.

He has served as the CEO for award winning associations in four states, including the Maryland Hotel & Lodging Association, the Maryland Tourism Coalition and the Maryland Tourism Education Foundation.

Reel is a Past President of the Chesapeake Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and is Chair of PRSA’s Mid Atlantic District Board of Directors. He is also a member of the Maryland Government Relations Association. He has earned and maintains the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation from the American Society of Association Executives.

Reel has served on the adjunct faculty at the University of Virginia’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, on the faculty at the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Organization Management, and has taught at the College of Southern Maryland’s Nonprofit Institute.

He earned a BA (With Distinction) in Political Science and an MPA in Public Administration from the Pennsylvania State University. At Penn State, he hosted a public affairs call-in radio program and was inducted into Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society.

Reel and his wife Shelley live in Easton. Shelley, a Certified Church Musician (CCM), is Director of Music Ministries at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Dover Delaware and is the Artistic Director of Bells of the Bay (an Easton based community hand bell choir). She is also a partner at The Gladstone Group, where she focuses on helping churches evaluate, improve, expand and launch worship arts programs.