(Syracuse, NY – Aug. 2013) Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo announces the hiring of Jaime Alvarez as director of public relations.
Alvarez is responsible for administering various aspects of the public relations program for the Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park and Friends of the Zoo. She promotes the zoo, Friends and their respective missions and in doing so, ensures all external communications are accurate and timely, handles media inquiries and manages the zoo’s social media platforms.
“Jaime’s experience, writing skills, familiarity with social media and special training in all facets of public relations position her nicely to take on the department and to work with both myself and zoo director Ted Fox in the next phase of the zoo’s growth,” says Janet Agostini, president of Friends of the Zoo.
Alvarez has more than a decade of experience in the field of public relations. She has worked at Syracuse Stage, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Georgetown University and most recently at Syracuse University.
At SU, she worked for over eight years in positions spanning the Office of News Services, Martin J. Whitman School of Management and Institute for Veterans and Military Families. She oversaw media relations for the University’s 155th commencement with guest speaker and SU alumnus U.S. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.; was part of the PR team handling the visit by His Holiness the 14thDalai Lama and the One World Concert, with performers including Dave Matthews; and managed last summer’s filming by CBS News series “60 Minutes” with special correspondent Sanjay Gupta on the University’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities.
Alvarez holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations from the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, graduating magna cum laude. A member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and PRSA’s Central New York chapter, she resides in East Syracuse with her husband and two children.