|
Sam Atwood has served as
AQMD’s Media Office Manager since June 2003. His office is responsible for
fostering productive two-way communication between the agency and all local,
national and international news media. In addition to daily contact with
news media, AQMD’s Media Office conducts a number of proactive programs
empowering residents to help clean the air, including Clean Air Choice, a
new car labeling program; sponsorship of a summer concert series on the
Santa Monica Pier and media outreach for the AQMD’s Mow Down Air Pollution
program to exchange gas-powered mowers for non-polluting electric models.
Under Sam’s direction, the Media Office has hosted numerous successful news
conferences including a tour of the port area aboard a 100-foot tugboat.
Sam joined the AQMD in 1993
and served as a Senior Public Information Specialist in the Media Office for
10 years. Prior to joining AQMD, Sam was a daily newspaper reporter
for more than 10 years at the San Bernardino Sun and the Santa Fe New
Mexican. While at the Sun, Sam covered environmental issues and in 1990 won
a prestigious Scripps Howard Foundation national journalism award for an
eight-part series on the health effects of smog. Sam started his media
career as a radio and wire service reporter in Santa Fe, N.M.
He is a 1977 graduate of St.
John’s College in Santa Fe, a liberal arts college based on the Great Books
program. He is married to Irene Atwood, a school teacher, and they have one
son, Andrew. During his time off, he enjoys reading, bicycling, travel and
high-power rocketry.
|
