USDA names new communications officials
June 29, 2015 |05:47 PM
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has appointed a new deputy communications director and a new press secretary starting today, Matt Herrick, Vilsack's communications director, announced today.
The new deputy director of communications is Joanne Peters, who has been working as a communications consultant since serving as deputy campaign manager for the 2014 reelection campaign of Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.
Before that, Peters was the national press secretary and top spokesperson for the Health and Human Services Department.
From 2009 to 2011, Peters was the Democratic National Committee’s regional press secretary for the South, and then the press secretary for the 2012 Democratic National Convention Committee. After the convention, she was the Virginia director of rapid response for President Obama’s reelection campaign.
Earlier in her career, she served as press secretary for Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C.
Peters grew up in North Carolina and earned a bachelor of arts degree in journalism, mass communications and political science from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
The new press secretary is Cathy Cochran, who joined USDA in 2009 as a career public affairs specialist with the Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Cochran joined USDA's Office of Communications last fall, where she has continued to manage food safety communications for the department.
She has a bachelor's degree in English from Sewanee, the University of the South in Tennessee, and is from Greenville, Miss.
The new deputy director of communications is Joanne Peters, who has been working as a communications consultant since serving as deputy campaign manager for the 2014 reelection campaign of Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.
Before that, Peters was the national press secretary and top spokesperson for the Health and Human Services Department.
From 2009 to 2011, Peters was the Democratic National Committee’s regional press secretary for the South, and then the press secretary for the 2012 Democratic National Convention Committee. After the convention, she was the Virginia director of rapid response for President Obama’s reelection campaign.
Earlier in her career, she served as press secretary for Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C.
Peters grew up in North Carolina and earned a bachelor of arts degree in journalism, mass communications and political science from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
The new press secretary is Cathy Cochran, who joined USDA in 2009 as a career public affairs specialist with the Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Cochran joined USDA's Office of Communications last fall, where she has continued to manage food safety communications for the department.
She has a bachelor's degree in English from Sewanee, the University of the South in Tennessee, and is from Greenville, Miss.
