i would like to thank tommy hicks, our great cochairmen, our tremendous chief of staff, richard walters, chief operating officer gina jackson, deputy chief of staff, mike reed, our chief counsel justin reamer and our legal office. please give them a round of applause. they worked so hard to. you all know them well, mariano rivera and her member services team. let's thank them. [applause] and i have a group that really helps me. you guys deal with them other time. i want to thank them for all they do, hannah, shannon and ainsley, thank you. our great rnc officers, thank you for all you do, and every rnc staffer in this room, in d.c., across the country, thank you for all you are doing to lead us to victory in november. finally, i have to thank my family. they are not here. they were here earlier. my husband, who all you know, is the best husband in the world and i love him so much. please tell him i said that. we are going on 23 years married. we got married in salt lake city. he is a great man, and our wonderful children. he is loving right -- loving life right now. abigail came up duri

are tremendous chief of staff richard walters. chief operating officer tina tajackson, deputy chief of staf, chief counsel justin reamer and the whole legal office, please give them a round of applause. [applause]. you all know them well, mariana herrera and her member services team. let's thank them. [cheers and applause] i have a group that helps me and you deal with them all the time and i want to thank them for all they do. hannah cox, hannah ray, ansley auburn and shannon fisher who helped with the chairman's office. thank you to all of you. [applause]. our great rnc officers ron kaufman, vicki, kyle, thank you for all you do and every single staffer in this room and dc and across the country, thank you t for all you are doing to lead us to victory in november. i have to thank my family. they were here earlier my husband, patrick, is the best husband in the world. i love him so much. please tell him i said that. we are going on 23 years married.ha we got married in salt lake city , so he's such a great man and our wonderful c

now i like to recognize richard walters for the chief of staff report. >> good morning. thank you for being in salt lake city. i am sure by now you've all heard today is my blast day as chief of staff of the rnc. i become a senior advisor to the chairwoman and focus on projects like the 20/20 for convention, presidential nominating process and securing a base for our nominees. i'll still be in the building every day working onprojects and collaborating with our team on any major decision points that may arise . mike reed, our deputy chief of staff will become new chief and handle the day-to-day duties that come with that tjob. (translating my has been an invaluable ... [applause] mike has been an invaluable asset to the rnc for years and is a dear friend. i would not feel comfortable making this change unless i do this transition would be seamless. mike and the senior staff are all seasoned professionals will continue to excel in their roles. i have served for nearly a decade. i started in 2013 as part of the junior staff. and in a lot of ways i've grown up at the rnc, a