Mayor Rawlings announces new staff appointments

For Immediate Release                                For more information contact:
Feb. 11, 2015                                                  Amanda Sanchez – Mayor’s Office
                                                                       (214) 671-8257
                                                                       Amanda.sanchez@dallascityhall.com    

 

Mayor Rawlings announces new staff appointments

Vana Hammond is Mayor Mike Rawlings’ new Chief of Community Relations and Grow South. She will oversee the Mayor’s Grow South initiative and advise the Mayor on issues related to community for the City.

The Dallas native has worked for the City of Dallas since 2004, starting as a Dallas Police Officer. After completing law school Vana opened a boutique law firm in Oak Cliff while advancing to Senior Corporal on the Dallas Police Department.  In 2012, she left DPD to join the Dallas City Attorney’s Office as a Community Prosecutor.

Serving the citizens of Dallas is one of Vana’s passions. She is a licensed instructor for the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement and has performed several trainings for attorneys, law enforcement officers and citizens. Her experience provides the tools necessary to serve the Mayor and the citizens of Dallas in this special role.

Vana earned her Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of North Texas (Denton) and a Juris Doctorate from Texas Wesleyan University School of Law.  Vana started in her new role today.

Former Dallas Morning News City Hall Reporter Scott Goldstein has been named Chief of Policy and Communications for the Mayor. In addition to managing media relations, he will work with the Mayor to craft and communicate policy.

Most recently, Scott served as the digital content editor for Baylor Scott & White Health, the largest not-for-profit health care system in Texas. At Baylor, he managed the system’s blog and handled a variety of digital communications and public relations duties. 

In his eight years at the Dallas Morning News, he reported on crime, courts and politics, including Dallas City Hall.  Scott appeared on CNN, MSNBC, NPR and Investigation Discovery in recent years to discuss his coverage of various national crime stories. In 2011, he received the Dallas Bar Association Stephen Philbin Award for his story on the dangers faced by police officers in domestic violence calls.

Scott is a 2005 journalism graduate of the University of Maryland. He will be joining the City of Dallas March 4.

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