Andrew Cauthen, III

• As Chief Communications Officer for DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond, developed and implemented the county’s overall communications strategy for various audiences, including news media, municipal leaders, business community, elected officials and the county’s 780,000 residents.
• Researched, wrote and approved messaging for media inquiries, news releases, news conferences, magazine stories, advertisement, countywide internal communications and web content.
• Organized state of the county programs, groundbreakings, ribbon cuttings, informational town hall meetings, and news conferences.
• Facilitated the county’s crisis communications during various scenarios including inclement weather, infrastructure failures and public safety incidents.
• Directed a staff consisting of a communications manager, public information officers, a social media specialist, freelance photographers as well as overseeing departmental communications personnel.
• Networked with county, metro Atlanta, congressional and White House communications personnel.
• Highlight—White House tour and news conference

Coordinated with White House communications team to host a tour and news conference in April 2024 for Tom Perez, senior advisor to President Biden and director of Intergovernmental Affairs; Angela Ramirez, deputy chief of staff, U.S Department of Health and Human Services; Congressman Hank Johnson and CEO Thurmond at Emory Hillandale Hospital in Lithonia.

• Regularly responded to news media inquiries.
• Led a staff of two public information officers and a social media specialist, as well as oversaw departmental communications personnel.
• Served as primary contact for Open Records Act requests from news media.
• Acted as a conduit of information for the community.
• Pitched positive newsworthy stories to media outlets.
• Key projects:

Pandemic communications

• Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March2020, provided critical communications for CEO Thurmond’s DeKalb Together,” a comprehensive strategy designed to mitigate the spread of the virus, support small businesses, and strengthen public safety.
• Disseminated messaging about the shelter-in-place orders, rental assistance, small business loans and large-scale food distribution and vaccination events.
• The “Get Vaxxed DeKalb!” campaign received the Center for Civic Innovation’s 2022 “Good Trouble” honor for its COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

Water billing tiger team

• Was a member of the county’s water billing tiger team, formed to determine the root causes of the county’s water billing crisis.
• Educated stakeholders about the New Day Project which was designed to develop a more accurate water billing system; repair, replace, and upgrade thousands of linear feet of water mains; and restore public confidence.

• Responsible for providing information to the public, news media and internal customers via news releases, social media posts and county website.
• Fostered relationships with news media representatives.
• Scheduled media availabilities for county CEO and other personnel.
• Prepared speaking points and speeches for county CEO and other personnel.

• Responsible for the day-to-day operations of this news organization covering DeKalb County news
• Managed news-gathering and dissemination via two weekly print newspapers, a website and various social media platforms
• Hired and directed a staff of fulltime and freelance writers, photographers, editors and web content managers
• Wrote several articles per week, including a column