KANNAPOLIS — The has hired Annette Privette Keller as its new communications director. She’ll start May 19 with a beginning annual salary of $71,250.
Keller has previously worked in communications for the Mooresville Graded School District, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District and the city of Concord. She is currently communications director for the town of Matthews, and has also worked as a consultant for a number of businesses and non-profit organizations, the city said in a news release.
As the city’s communications director, Keller will oversee all public relations, communications and marketing activities, including resident outreach, business and economic development marketing, and implementing the city’s new “healthy life” branding initiative.
Keller will also be involved in Kannapolis’ new wayfinding program, small business outreach, downtown revitalization, corridor appearance improvements, marketing of meeting space in the future municipal center, and helping communicate the city’s legislative agenda in Raleigh and Washington, D.C.
In addition to holding a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Keller holds a master of public administration and an advanced certificate in marketing from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, as well as a certificate in municipal administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Government.
Keller co-founded and served as president of the N.C. City County Communicators, a professional organization for government employees working in the communications, public relations and marketing fields. She is also a member of ICMA, the N.C. Government Association of Information Officers, the Open Government Coalition Board and the Keep Mecklenburg Beautiful board of directors.
She has received numerous awards for her work in branding, design, public relations, websites, social media, and marketing, including the 2012 State Government Communicator Award for NC3C, the National 3CMA Savvy Award for Creative Marketing and Communications, NCAGIO Excellence in Communications, N.C. School Public Relations Association’s Blue Ribbon for Effective Communications and a North Carolina Press Association award.
A native of North Carolina, Keller is active in a number of volunteer organizations. She and her husband, John, live in Mooresville, and her stepson, Ross, is a student at Coastal Carolina University.