FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Susan Blexrud 407-246-3107

MAYOR DYER ANNOUNCES 
FURTHER STAFF CHANGES

ORLANDO, FL (March 31, 2003) -- Mayor Buddy Dyer late Monday announced new staff assignments within the Office of Mayor, effective Tuesday, April 1, 2003.

David Dix, who has served as a consultant and campaign manager in all of Mayor Dyer’s political races for the past 11 years, will serve as the Mayor’s chief of staff and will temporarily assume the duties of Director of Communications Susan Blexrud, who is leaving the staff for the private sector on April 1.

Fred Kittinger, who served as Mayor Hood’s chief of staff, will stay on and serve as a special assistant to the Mayor. He will continue to work to ensure a smooth transition and will focus on economic development issues for the Mayor.

Marcia Hope Goodwin will join the Mayor’s staff temporarily and will serve as the Mayor’s press secretary. Hope Goodwin is presently serving as the City of Orlando’s director of Neighborhood Services. She will maintain both roles during the Mayor’s transition and will work primarily out of the Mayor’s office starting April 1.

Dix, 45, brings a wealth of political, business and communications experience to the job. He has worked on several different democratic presidential campaigns including Senator Edward Kennedy’s 1980 presidential campaign. He worked on Capitol Hill for U.S. Congressman Jim Weaver (D-Oregon). In 1986, Dix was elected to serve in the Oregon legislature where he served two terms as a State Legislator from Eugene, but lost a reelection bid in 1990. 

In 1992, Dix founded a political consulting and public affairs firm, Dix Communications. In 1995, he took a leave from his political consulting practice and joined the Corporate Communications team at General Mills in Minneapolis, where he served as the director of communications. In 1997, Dix was asked to serve as the director of communications for the President’s Summit for America’s future in Philadelphia, an event that brought together all of the living American presidents (Nancy Reagan represented President Reagan) to focus on children’s issues. The Summit was chaired by former Joint Chiefs Chairman, and now U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell. General Mills graciously agreed to lend Dix to the Summit efforts at the request of Secretary Powell. In 1999, Dix took a position as vice president of marketing for now defunct Internet startup, ThinkLink, in San Francisco. 

Fred Kittinger was appointed chief of staff for former Mayor Glenda E. Hood in 1997. Kittinger has been with the City since March 1995, when he was appointed special assistant to the Mayor to serve as Mayor’s liaison to the business community. Prior to joining the City, Kittinger served eight years as vice president of governmental relations for the Greater Orlando Chamber of Commerce.

Marcia Hope Goodwin is the director of the City of Orlando’s Neighborhood Services Office, which was established by Mayor Hood as a division of the Mayor’s office in December 1992. Goodwin worked closely with Mayor Hood to develop the Neighborhood Services Office (NSO) in order to enhance Orlando’s quality of life. Goodwin has been a manager/administrator in the public and private sectors for 28 years. She began her professional career in 1974 as a staff writer and later education writer for The Orlando Sentinel. In 1976, Marcia developed a business plan, acquired local investors and founded the Orlando Times weekly newspaper. As editor in chief, she positioned the newspaper, now in its 26th year, as Orlando’s first significant black-owned newspaper. After moving to Miami in 1978, she accepted a position as media relations director for Dade County Public Schools, the nation’s fourth largest school 
district. In 1980, she took over as public information director for Miami’s WLRN Public Television, Radio and Cable, where she produced and hosted public affairs programs and published a monthly program magazine, the WLRN Signal. 

Both Kittinger ($116,971) and Hope Goodwin’s ($94,307) compensation levels will remain the same. During the transition, and due to budget constraints, Dix will be compensated from a Transition Fund set up by the City of Orlando and funded by private and corporate contributions to the City of Orlando. The funds were solicited by the Mayor to offset transition expenses.

At the time Mayor Dyer took office, no funds had been set aside by the City to fund any transition effort out of the city budget. Dix’s compensation level has not been set, nor will he receive city benefits as long as he is compensated out of the Transition Fund. 

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