Sam Haskell III

Haskell who spent 27 years with the William Morris agency where he was one of the most powerful agents and dealmakers in the business. Even Miss America 1964 Donna Axum and Miss America 1971 Phyllis George asked Haskell to help save the pageant. He had to come up with a way to make the pageant relevant like it was during the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s and keep that relevance. Haskell, who was executive vice president and member of the WMA Board of Directors, retired from the agency in 2005 then took on the Miss America challenge. He thought he was going to retire but it’s been 11 years since he took over at Miss America. The journey has not been easy. He first had to address saving the organization financially. Haskell began by cutting 50 percent of the staff and made a deal with the Children’s Miracle Network. They began working with the Dick Clark Company and with Tony Eaton, executive producer/director and President of Tall Pony Productions.