THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510030082
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 28 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
The city has a new saleswoman.
The city has named Patricia Kelly, a former public relations official with Amtrak, as its new director of communications. She fills a position that has been vacant for more than a year.
As communications director, Kelly is responsible for putting the city's best face to the public as well as handling inquiries from the press. Often, a communications director will work with city officials to come up with a strategy for dealing with the press during times of intense public scrutiny.
Kelly comes to Norfolk after eight years as manager of travel industry communications for Amtrak, the public train service, in Washington. She has also served as director of public relations for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, and director of communications for the Travel Industry Association of America.
Her past experience in tourism and amusement parks could help Norfolk in its effort to bring more visitors to Norfolk and make attractions like Nauticus more successful.
``Pat was selected for this post because of her demonstrated success in a number of critical areas - grassroots cooperation, crisis response, media relations, employee communications, issues management and television production,'' said City Manager James B. Oliver in a prepared statement.
Kelly's boss will be Sam Rogers, director of the newly created department of Marketing and Communications which oversees Kelly's office. The new office is meant to coordinate public information with the overall marketing strategy of the city.
Said Kelly: Norfolk's ``dynamic business community and attractive locations make Norfolk a desirable city in which to live and to work - and the communications staff plans to spread that message far and wide.'' by CNB