Note this name: Carrie Lujan. You are likely to see a lot of it in the media in the coming years.
Lujan has been hired as Santa Clarita’s new communications manager, replacing Gail Morgan, who is retiring as of Dec. 27.
The city made the announcement on Saturday.
Lujan begins work on Monday after working in various public-relations positions for the city of Santa Monica since 2013 – most recently as public information officer and public information and cable television manager, according to a release from the Santa Clarita communications office.
Before that, Lujan worked for nine years doing PR in the private sector. Previously, she worked as a reporter and producer in local TV news in Palm Springs and Los Angeles, according to her LinkedIn page.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in speech communications in 1999 from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo.
Morgan, retiring after 27 years, said the city received “a couple of hundred” applications when the job was advertised, and that the city interviewed 17 candidates before whittling the number down to six.
Mayor Bob Kellar said the candidates were interviewed by three separate panels of city officials and community members, one of which he sat on.
“I was extremely impressed,” Kellar told The Signal. “She instilled in me a complete understanding of city government and gave me every indication that she is more than qualified to fill that important role at City Hall.
“Under our form of government, the city manager makes the ultimate decision, but my feelings are consistent with the feelings that I heard from the other groups that had an opportunity to conduct the interviews.’’
Santa Clarita’s City Manager, Kenneth Striplin, said in a statement that Lujan “brings a great combination of professional experience to the job and will be instrumental in helping to develop dynamic communications programs that will enable the city to provide timely and accurate information to the media, business and community members.”
As for Lujan’s salary, the city website says the communications manager’s job pays between $114,000 and $138,000, depending on hours worked.
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