Karen Shields is the Public Information Officer/Communications Manager for the Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale County Health Departments in East Metro Atlanta.

In this role, Ms. Shields is the spokesperson for the agency and routinely responds to media inquiries. She produces and assists with projects and campaigns for community and public awareness programs; outlines marketing and advertising strategies; coordinates news conferences and special events; develops various types of publications related to public health; provides oversight to the content, layout, and design of the agency website and social media outlets; and writes, edits, and distributes all agency news releases. In addition, she works closely with the Emergency Preparedness Program creating support materials relating to crisis communications at all stages of an emergency.

Ms. Shields has over 30 years of experience in marketing and communications, crisis communications and change management. She has extensive experience in the development and implementation of strategic marketing and communications plans. In addition to strategic and management capabilities, Ms. Shields is technically proficient in all aspects of communications, including creative design, copywriting, web site development, photography and video production.

External Communications
Ms. Shields started building her skills in marketing and communications while working for one of Forbes’ top 100 privately-held companies. While there, she exhibited the ability to discern the business requirements driving the strategies and convert them to marketing and communications plans. She has held management positions in advertising, marketing and communications where she was responsible for creating communications plans, along with the resulting initiatives designed to introduce new products and increase sales of existing products.

Her knowledge of market development, customer service, inside sales, external sales and marketing information systems enables her to understand how to use information from each of these areas to create strategic marketing and communications plans. She also knows how to utilize information from each of these areas to monitor the results once the plan has been implemented.

Internal Communications
Additionally, Ms. Shields has many years of experience working in internal communications. She has written, edited and produced employee newsletters, introduced internal marketing campaigns and “ghost written” employee correspondence from the president and CEO of corporations. She recognizes the importance of proper communication with any audience – external or internal. And she understands the need to communicate with internal audiences (employees) on a regular basis, relaying messages that help employees at every level see they are an important part of the team.

Ms. Shields holds a degree in Business/Office Administration. Before moving to Public Health, she held communications management positions in the industrial mineral, technology and biopharmaceutical industries.