Poe named as Haslam communication director

NASHVILLE - Gov. Bill Haslam today named Alexia Poe as his communications director, filling the role that former Chattanooga Times Free Press publisher and executive editor Tom Griscom had held on a consulting basis.

"I'm excited to have Alexia joining the administration as communications director," Haslam said in a news release. "She has a wealth of knowledge and experience from her work at the federal, state and local levels as well as in the private sector, and I look forward to working with her as we take our focused message on job creation, education reform and budget management to the people of this great state."

Her start date is March 14. Currently, Poe serves as Nashville Mayor Karl Dean's director of the Office of Economic and Community Development.

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"I have thoroughly enjoyed working for Mayor Dean and it has been a privilege to contribute to the process of creating jobs in Nashville," said Poe. "I look forward to this new challenge and am honored to be asked to serve by Gov. Haslam."

Before joining Mayor Karl Dean's staff, she was managing director of a small public affairs firm in downtown Nashville. She previously worked for Gaylord Entertainment as director of public affairs.

She worked in former Republican Gov. Don Sundquist's administration as press secretary, then moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked in the White House as deputy press secretary to First Lady Laura Bush.

Following that, she headed to Capitol Hill, where she built U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander's press office from the ground up after the Tennessee Republican's election in 2002.

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