George Washington University adds Candace Smith as media relations director. Smith most recently served as a media crisis communications coach for WMATA and communications adviser to Metro's general manager. Smith worked for WMATA for five years and was a WMATA spokeswoman during the summer’s Red Line crash.
Smith told the GW Hatchet that she decided to make the transition from Metro to GW because she "was ready for a change." "Metro is in the news a lot, and it's not the best attention," Smith said. "It had a full-time Washington Post reporter just covering Metro. It's always crisis mode."
She told the paper that the nature of the Metro organization was inherently challenging. "It was extremely challenging to have a ridership of 1.3 million every single day and basically be a multi-jurisdictional agency governed by politicians," Smith said "So that is challenging and they do it every single day. Metro is not closed down any time."
Smith said she comes to her new position with prior knowledge of the university, as she served as an adjunct professor teaching public information to students studying emergency medicine.