Mayor names communications director and welcomes new public information officer

News Release from Office of the Mayor, April 2, 2018

Honolulu – Mayor Kirk Caldwell announced today that he has named Andrew Pereira his Communications Director and is welcoming broadcast journalist Alex Zannes to the Managing Director’s Office as a public information officer.

“Andrew has shown himself to be a valuable asset to our team as we continue to tell the story of this administration,” said Mayor Caldwell. “We are fortunate that he has taken on this new role as communications director to build upon all of his hard work over the past two years.”       

Pereira was an award winning investigative reporter who joined the mayor’s communications team in December of 2015 after a 20 year career in broadcast television. His major awards include the following:

• In 2010, Andrew received the Edward R. Murrow Award and the Society of Professional Journalists award for his investigative reporting.
• That same year he was honored with the Excellence Award on Community Reporting by the Chinatown Business and Community Association.
• In 2011, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences San Francisco/Northern California Chapter nominated Andrew for two Emmy Awards for his series and feature news reporting.
• In September 2012, Smart Business Hawai‘i and the Small Business Hawai‘i Entrepreneurial Education Foundation honored Andrew with the George Mason Outstanding Business Reporting Award.
• In January 2015, Andrew was named as the best political reporter on Hawai‘i television by Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post blog The Fix.

Zannes began his journalism career as a sports reporter and fill-in anchor at KOB Channel 4 in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2012. He continued in TV news later that same year as a sports anchor and reporter at KFD Channel 3 in Wichita Falls, Texas. Zannes moved to O‘ahu in 2015 where he continued his journalism career as a reporter for KHON2 News before agreeing to join Mayor Caldwell’s communications team.

“Alex works to get it right on all of the stories he has covered and I have appreciated his professionalism and attention to detail while reporting on a variety of issues,” said Mayor Caldwell. “I look forward to working closely with Alex in his new role, and have no doubt he will be an asset to this administration.”

Zannes was also an award-winning athlete in golf and basketball while attending high school and college, and was the recipient of the Maloof Scholarship for Outstanding Male Student Athlete in the state of New Mexico in 2006. He was also the recipient of a Presidential Scholarship at the University of New Mexico where he graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a minor in Communications.

Zannes joins the mayor’s communications team today, Monday, April 2.

-PAU-

SA: Caldwell hires KHON reporter, promotes Pereira to communications director