The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Highway District 1 announced Monday the hiring of its new public information officer.
Effective November 1, Carrie Dillard will succeed longtime PIO Keith Todd, who served both Districts 1 and 2 from 2004 until 2019, and retired from District 1 at the end of July.
Dillard previously served as the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce Programs and Public Policy director, where was responsible for the chamber’s business advocacy efforts, workforce and small business programs and communications.
She also has a considerable background in journalism. She spent 14 years at Kentucky newspapers, serving as editor of The Paducah Sun, and also had stops at The Sentinel-Echo in London, as well as the Union County Advocate in Morganfield.
In a written statement, Dillard said she was honored to serve western Kentucky in this role. She said she knows she has “big shoes to fill,” as she first met Todd in 2006 as a young reporter in Union County.
Dillard graduated cum laude from the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, with a bachelor’s degree in English. A southern Illinois native, she moved to Paducah in 2014, where and her husband, John Michael, live in Lone Oak.
Kyle Poat, District 1 Chief Engineer, said Dillard’s background in journalism, as well as her knowledge of the region, make her “well-suited for the role.”
District 1 includes Ballard, Calloway, Carlisle, Crittenden, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Livingston, Lyon, Marshall, McCracken and Trigg counties.
