Dori Thornton Waller
Native Chattanoogan Dori Thornton Waller moved to Washington, D.C. after graduating from the University of Tennessee to pursue a career in event planning. After spending two years at a fundraising and event planning firm, Dori 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, Dori 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. She and her husband live in North Chattanooga with their two daughters, Madolyn (8) and Annie Blake (2), and Saint Bernard, Minnie.