FOR RELEASE Contact: Jim Bradshaw (202)401-1576
June 26, 1998
FORMER VIRGINIA SECRETARY OF STATE LAURIE NAISMITH
APPOINTED DIRECTOR OF CORPORATE LIAISON
Former Virginia Secretary of State Laurie Naismith, most recently president of the Community Communications Inc. public relations firm in Newport News, Va., and a veteran of more than 20 years in public relations, marketing, state government and entrepreneurship, has been named the Department of Education's director of corporate liaison.
"Laurie's strong background in communications and building public-private partnerships will provide us with valuable assistance as we seek to involve businesses and employers in ways to promote excellence in America's schools," said Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley.
Naismith served as Virginia's secretary of state from 1982-1985. She was the first female member of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, a post she held from 1985 to 1987. While on the ABC board working with the private sector partners, she developed an award-winning, nationally recognized ad campaign supporting the 21-year-old drinking age to prevent a potential cut in highway funds.
Naismith also established the first statewide international internship program for Virginia's institutions of higher education. Working with economic development officials and private companies, Naismith recruited 180 companies in 11 western and eastern European countries to put students in the global marketplace and learn through experience about international business, working and living in different lands.
She has been president of Community Communications since 1995. Before that, she worked from 1992-1995 as director of federal and state government relations with the Chambers Development Co. in Washington, D.C.
There, she created a successful legislative and communications strategy to accomplish the company's legislative goals.
More recently, as a consult for SEVAnet, she developed a marketing program to build private and public sector awareness and financial support for a pilot program that puts large and small businesses on the Web to increase sales and business growth.
She also helped form and secure funding for the new Virginia Electronic Commerce Technology Center at Christopher Newport University and the Virginia Modeling Analysis and Simulation Center located in Suffolk, Virginia.
She holds a graduate diploma in international relations and comparative politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She also has a bachelor of arts in political science from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va.
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