Renzo Downey
After more than a decade of experience as a state government communications director, Jenn Meale Poggie is joining Sachs Media Group as a senior account manager of public affairs.
In that time, Poggie has held senior roles in the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, the Attorney General’s Office, and the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. But since former Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam left office, Poggie has taken time off to get married and grow her family.
Now, she is making her first foray into the private sector with SMG, a Tallahassee-based public relations firm, which she called a tremendous opportunity.
“Jenn is an exemplary talent whose vast, respected experience and diverse skills deepen our leadership bench with outstanding strategic thinking, a powerful network of relationships, and proven communications skills,” said Sachs Media Group founder and CEO Ron Sachs. “Her top-level background makes her a very strong, major addition to our team.”
Before working for Putnam in DACS, Poggie was a communications director for former Attorney General Pam Bondi, and while at DBPR, she led communications for then-incoming Gov. Rick Scott‘s transition team. With that comes experience in national media relations, crisis communications and public safety initiatives.
“Jenn will play a key role in leading significant accounts that involve statewide outreach, important public policy issues, and insider knowledge of state government,” said Michelle Ubben, president and partner at Sachs Media. “We run on talent, so it’s exciting to welcome a superb professional like Jenn to our great team.”
Poggie is making the transition to public relations amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disrupted business operations everywhere. But she isn’t deterred by the new normal, and with her years in state government, she has already built relationships with much of the leadership team.
“I am thrilled to be joining the high-caliber, talented team at Sachs Media,” she said. “During the course of my career, I have seen firsthand how the firm’s effective strategic campaigns have advanced positive public policy, changed public behavior and achieved its clients’ vital missions.”
Sachs Media, which provides strategic communications services for mid- to large-sized corporate, nonprofit, and government organizations, is approaching its 25th anniversary. The firm was named the 2018 national Small PR Firm of the Year by PR News and earned the Dick Pope Award in 2019 for the top Florida PR campaign of the year for its work on Rebuild Florida for the Department of Economic Opportunity.
The firm currently contracts with groups such as The Suddath Companies, Lyft, The Florida Bar and Healthy Start.
Sachs Media has offices in Tallahassee, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Washington, D.C.
Poggie graduated from Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in English and Visual Arts. Since leaving DACS, she has married her husband Brian Poggie and had two daughters.
