Randy King
Senior Communications Consultant
rking@triadstrategies.com
What do you do after serving as the eyes, ears and public face of a legendary mayor for over two decades? If you are Randy King, you bring that unparalleled level of experience to Triad’s Communications Practice.
Randy has been working with Triad since 2007 after a 22-year career of public service with former Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed. Randy was Reed’s press secretary and director of communications for 18 years, and prior to that served as the city’s first-ever special events director. In addition to developing Harrisburg’s tourism and special events programs, he was instrumental in modernizing Harrisburg’s communications capabilities. He developed the city’s first-ever website and other online capabilities, established the Harrisburg Broadcast Network (a municipal communications network consisting of two cable access channels), an online radio station, four related websites, and a monthly newspaper. He was recognized as one of the preeminent public information officers in the state, having served on the city’s award winning emergency operations team.
Randy also distinguished himself through his work on the PA State Farm Show Commission, the state’s governing body for the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, the largest indoor agricultural exposition center in the world. He served three consecutive terms on the Commission, having been originally appointed by Gov. Robert P. Casey, and subsequently reappointed by Governors Tom Ridge and Ed Rendell. He was unanimously confirmed by the Pennsylvania Senate for all three appointments.
Randy played a key role in the development of the region’s and city’s tourism promotion efforts, including serving as board chair for the regional tourism promotion agency on three separate occasions over the past 20 years. During his tenure, five separate county-run tourism agencies coalesced into one super agency, allowing for expanded marketing and other regional tourism development. Randy played a key role in the creation of minor league sports in Harrisburg, including the Harrisburg Senators AA baseball club, the Harrisburg Piranha minor league football team, and the Harrisburg Horizon basketball team. He coordinated the Keystone State Games for six years, and was instrumental in bringing the Tour DuPont cycling race to Harrisburg. His special events work includes production stints with the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, halftime shows for the Aloha, Cotton and Fiesta Bowls, and dozens of other large national events throughout the nation.
Randy is also recognized as one of the most experienced public information officers in Pennsylvania, participating in a wide range of public crisis and response, ranging from 9-11’s Ground Zero in New York City to the Camp Hill Prison riots, with scores of floods, major fires, blizzards, hurricanes and other natural disaster responses along the way. He was one of the first PIO’s in the nation to be federally certified under the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Incident Management System, and currently holds seven NIMS certifications. He has gained statewide prominence for his outstanding municipal PIO training programs, and he is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College’s specialized terrorism response training.
King has worked with five separate governors, four different presidents, hundreds of state, county and municipal elected officials, and numerous international diplomats and dignitaries. He served as a Democratic Committeeman in Harrisburg for nearly twenty years and was a Vice President and two-term member of the city School Board.
