Mayor Bynum Names Michelle Brooks as City’s Director of Communications

3/12/2020

On Wednesday, Mayor G.T. Bynum named Michelle Brooks as the City of Tulsa’s Director of Communications. The hiring comes on the heels of Michelle’s appointment as the Interim Director of Communications, while serving in her role as the Deputy Director of Communications and Mayoral Press Secretary. She will take her post effective immediately. 

“Michelle Brooks is one of the best in the country in the field of public communications, and I am grateful she has agreed to serve the City of Tulsa as our new Director of Communications,” Mayor Bynum said. “Whether it is in leading crisis communications during events like the May 2019 flood or in the everyday work to provide Tulsans with the information they need, Michelle is universally respected for her talent and will be a great leader of our Communications Department moving forward.”

After being with the City for more than 13 years, Michelle has served in various communication roles and helped keep Tulsans safe through effective disaster response and communication. She also specializes in issues management, media relations and strategic communications.

A champion of various projects and communications efforts, some of Michelle’s most renowned work includes leading the Joint Information Center (JIC) for the 2019 Tulsa Flood and the 2017 Midtown Tornado. Some other key projects and communications strategies she led include A Better Way for Tulsa, Tulsa Sobering Center, the 1921 Graves Search and the rollout of Tulsa’s 311 system, to name a few.

Michelle holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Marketing from Oklahoma State University and is accredited in Public Relations by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). She is also the only person in Tulsa that is certified as a Master of Public Information Officer by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security/FEMA.

Michelle currently serves on the Tulsa chapter boards of the Association for Women in Communications and Public Relations Society of America. She was recently recognized by PRSA Tulsa as 2019’s Young PR Professional of the Year.

The Communications Department is centralized within the City of Tulsa and handles public information and internal and external communications for all City departments with the exception of the Tulsa Fire and Police Departments.