Founder of RNC Regents, Pioneer of Cable TV Joins Diebel Finance Committe

(WINTER PARK, FL) Rick Michaels, who began his career at the birth of Cable TV, and has gone on to become a major force in the world of communication has joined the Karen Diebel for Congress Finance Team. Michaels also founded and served as Co-Chairman of the Republican National Committee Regents.

Diebel is running in the Republican Primary in central Florida’s 24th District.

“Most thought Cable TV would never work. Now it has changed the way the world gets its information and changed the world of communications forever. The pioneering American entrepreneurial spirit, when given the freedom to operate, has accomplished great things. It has pulled us out of depressions and recessions and has made our country an economic force.

But increasing government intrusion and high tax burden have driven American companies and jobs overseas. Given the opportunity the American small businessman and entrepreneur can bring back our economy, but only if government will get out of the way,” Michaels said.

“Karen Diebel works to grow American companies everyday. Karen shares the same pioneering spirit that built the cable industry. Karen will go to Washington and restore the environment of opportunity in America again. If we send Karen Diebel to congress, the solid conservative ideals that have let our country flourish will once again be heard,” Michaels said.

Diebel, an Executive for Verizon, shares Michaels roots in the communication industry.

“No industry has a greater potential impact on our lives than communication. The rapid growth in the number of different ways we receive our information has been responsible, I believe, for revealing to a broad American public the current shortfalls in the way our government works,” Diebel said.

“Pioneers like Rick helped build our country. They will again. I’ll go to Washington to fight for small business and American know-how. I’ll give our economy the freedom it needs to grow,” Diebel said.

As an Executive Director at Verizon Business, Karen Diebel helps companies grow by finding solutions to complex technological challenges. She earned a spot on the Orlando Business Journal’s 2009 list of "Women Who Mean Business.”

Karen co-founded the N. Donald Diebel Jr. M.D. Good Samaritan Fund in 2004, in memory of her late husband. In partnership with Shephard's Hope, the Dr. Diebel Jr. Memorial Health Center provides care for more than 2,000 men, women, and children annually. She is a member of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Winter Park and a graduate of the University of Notre Dame (B.B.A., Finance). Karen received her M.B.A. from the University of South Florida.

Karen lives in Winter Park with her three sons: Conor, age 13, Liam, age 12, and Nicholas, age 10.