Mayor makes another internal hire, promotes Anne Torres to communications director

• Courtesy Anne Torres
• Mayor Kasim Reed’s Director of Communications Anne Torres

Over the past several months, Mayor Kasim Reed has made a handful of internal promotions to fill top vacancies within his administration. Chief Operating Officer Michael Geisler and Atlanta Airport General Manager Miguel Southwell had their interim titles turned into permanent ones. Earlier this afternoon, Anne Torres joined them as the mayor’s new director of communications.

Torres will be tasked with overseeing the mayor’s communication strategy and advising top City Hall officials on media-related matters. Since joining Reed’s office in 2012, the deputy communications director had received credit for guiding the city’s social media strategy, connecting the mayor with Atlanta-based startups, and assisting with other communications affairs.

“Anne’s commitment to public service and years of government communications experience make her uniquely qualified to lead our communications effort,” Mayor Reed said in a statement. “We are fortunate to have her as a key member of our team. She plays an essential and strategic role in my Administration, and her leadership and counsel is invaluable to me.”

Prior to her current post, Torres served as communications director for former Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who is now a New Jersey U.S. Senator, for more than five years. Melissa Mullinax, Reed’s senior communications officer, will continue to work with Torres as deputy communications director.

“Working with the Reed Administration has been a great honor, and I look forward to continuing my service in my role as Communications Director,” Torres tells CL. “It’s a privilege to work with a team of communications professionals who commit 110 percent every day to get the job done.”

Reed had been searching for a new communications director since Sonji Jacobs Dade, his top spokeswoman for most of his first term, departed for a communications role with Cox Enterprises last fall. Carlos Campos, who oversaw the mayor’s communications staff in an interim capacity, plans to return to his previous role with the Atlanta Police Department as public affairs manager.

“Carlos is an exceptional communications leader and I am deeply grateful for his service as the interim leader of my communications team,” Reed added in a statement. “I am confident that he will continue to serve this Administration well in his role at the Atlanta Police Department.”

The number of vacant leadership positions in the mayor’s cabinet has slowly, but surely, dwindled. If you know someone who might want to work as the city’s top economic development, workforce development, or parks and recreation officials, send the mayor a line on Twitter at @KasimReed.