Kathy Harper is the new director of communications for the Jacksonville & the Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau. She started April 14.
WHAT ARE HER DUTIES?
As communications director, Harper handles external media relations and communications and oversees two other people that are part of the communications team. “So far it’s been great. It’s really a perfect opportunity for me to promote my hometown.”
BUSY DAY
To celebrate National Tourism Week, the CVB is hosting a luncheon at the Adam’s Mark Hotel today at noon. Harper will be there to honor “hospitality heroes” and help present the CVB’s new advertising campaigns.
WHAT WAS HER ROLE IN THE OLYMPICS?
Harper spent two years in Salt Lake City working on the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and seven years in Atlanta working for the Georgia Games and the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. “It was very exciting. Salt Lake was a particularly fantastic experience for me because I was not only working for the Olympics, but I got to work with a lot of the people I had in the past, so it was like a big reunion.” Harper’s job involved media relations. “My job was to set up media facilities and services for six sports and the Olympic Village, which translated into three venues. I had to make sure the media had everything they needed — enough phone lines, copies of results and access to the athletes.” Harper also had to make sure winning athletes knew where they needed to be. “There is a huge amount of protocol involved when someone wins a medal. They have to go through interviews, a press conference and drug testing within an hour after winning. If they don’t make it to drug testing within that time they could get disqualified. I never wanted the headline to read that I’d gotten them disqualified for not getting them where they needed to be on time.”
DOES SHE PLAY SPORTS?
Harper plays softball and was on a team in Salt Lake City.
OTHER TALENTS
Harper also worked for the Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs from 1991-92, where she tried her hand at photography. She took pictures of the U.S. women’s basketball trials and for the U.S. Boxing Association’s national championships.
WILL SHE HAVE A ROLE IN PREPARING FOR THE 2005 SUPER BOWL?
“I’m a volunteer on the media services committee, so I’m there to offer any help, advice or experience that I have. One of the key things I learned early on when planning a big event like this is that pacing yourself is very important. You have to so you can keep your sanity and enjoy the experience. Jacksonville seems way ahead of the game when it comes to planning and preparing for the Super Bowl.”
EDUCATION
Harper graduated from Orange Park High School and Brigham Young University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in communications. “My father went there and I’ve always been the adventurer in the family, so I thought it would be fun to go far away. But the University of Florida was my second choice; that’s where my mother went.”
WHAT’S IT LIKE TO RETURN TO HER HOMETOWN?
“It’s great to be back. Part of me never left Jacksonville because I was born here and my mom was born and raised here, so we were always back to visit family. I always felt like I was from Jacksonville. I love being near the beach again — it is a comfort just knowing that it’s close. And I like the Southern hospitality. I’m a Southern girl at heart.”
WHERE ELSE HAS
SHE LIVED?
In addition to Atlanta and Salt Lake City, Harper has lived in Philadelphia, Detroit, New Orleans, Pensacola and Millington, Tenn., which is just outside of Memphis.
WHAT DOES SHE DO
FOR FUN?
“I like to cook. It’s become a recent passion of mine. I’ve progressed greatly from my starting days in college.” Harper belongs to a cooking club that meets once a month to prepare meals together. “I was in one in Salt Lake City and I found one here through Cooking Light magazine.”
— by Bailey White