Reese McCranie, one of Atlanta’s deputy communications directors and Mayor Kasim Reed’s former campaign media director, will assume a similar role next month at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
On June 3, McCranie will take over as the airport’s senior public relations manager.
The position has been open since last September, when the city purged the former staff, firing three senior public relations officials because their services were “no longer needed.”
The mayor’s office, particularly Communications Director Sonji Dade, had been handling airport media in the interim.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported that the personnel documents on the terminations of John Kennedy, Al B. Snedeker and Katena Carvajales noted that their dismissals took effect Sept. 29, 2012.
In the five months leading to the firings, the airport and City Hall were at odds over media coverage of the opening of the new international terminal. Kennedy and Snedeker were suspended for one day on May 30 for issues related to media coverage of the terminal.
A native of Jacksonville, Fla., McCranie is a graduate of Florida State University and is currently getting an MBA in executive global business from Georgia Tech. He has lived in Atlanta for 13 years.
“I have been proud to serve as a member of Mayor Reed’s administration, and I look forward to joining the talented team at the world’s busiest passenger airport,” McCranie said.
McCranie is the second member of Reed’s original communications team to become the media representative to another city department.
Last year, Jennifer Ogunsola became communications manager for the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs.
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