SEATTLE - Former Seattle Deputy Mayor Bob Royer has been named Seattle City Light's new Director of Communications and Public Affairs. He will develop and oversee communications and public relations for the public utility, which serves 690,000 people.
"This is an exciting time for the region and the utility," Royer says. "We're saving endangered fish, developing new renewable resources and participating in changed relationships with the Bonneville Power Administration and our sister utilities. And, by the way, keeping the lights on." He directs a staff of twelve communications professionals.
"What we do is complex and sometimes contradictory," says City Light Superintendent Gary Zarker. "In Bob, we have someone who can help us deliver a coherent message along with our reliable, affordable and environment-friendly power."
For the past 15 years Royer ran his own consulting business, focusing mostly on electric utilities and solid waste issues. His clients included the Bonneville Power Administration, the International Joint Commission, Allied Waste Industries and the Seattle Housing Authority.
Prior to his years as a consultant he was campaign manager for his brother, former Seattle Mayor Charles Royer, and served as one of Seattle's two deputy mayors from 1978 to 1983 during the turbulent WPPSS (Washington Public Power Supply System) default. He was a political reporter at Seattle's KING television news before running his brother's campaign. He served as an executive board member for Washington Public Power Supply System between 1992-1997. He attended the University of Oregon and graduated from Portland State University. He was in Nigeria as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1965-66 and is a Vietnam veteran.
