Delta Regional Authority names Little Rock native Shawna Blair communications director

The Delta Regional Authority (DRA) has hired Little Rock native Shawna Blair as its new communications director. Her first day was Nov. 18. Blair spent the past 14 years as deputy director of the U.S. Senate Periodical Press Gallery.

“Shawna will be an excellent asset to DRA,” Delta Regional Authority Federal Co-Chairman Chris Caldwell said in a statement.  “Her years of experience as a media operative and knowledge of the Delta region will greatly help us in our mission to improve economic opportunities to our communities.”

Blair is a 2002 graduate of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where she majored in journalism with an emphasis in advertising and public relations.  In 2016, she earned her master’s degree from Georgetown University in public relations and corporate communications.

“I am excited and humbled to be given this opportunity to serve as Communications Director for Delta Regional Authority,” Blair said in a statement. “There are inspiring stories to be told of the great work DRA facilitates throughout the Delta region, and I look forward to sharing these stories and contributing to DRA’s efforts to support job creation, build communities, and improve lives.”

Blair sits on the board of directors for the Arkansas State Society, serves as an advisor for the Chi Omega Fraternity at American University and volunteers with the Junior League of Washington as a literacy lab tutor.

The Delta Regional Authority is a federal-state partnership that is congressionally mandated to help create jobs, build communities and improve lives in the 252 counties and parishes of the Mississippi River Delta region.

DRA is headquartered in Clarksdale, Miss. Blair will work from Washington, D.C.