State chamber names director of communications
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Chamber of Commerce has hired Melissa Hahn as its new director of communications.
With a couple of decades of journalism and media relations experience, plus a penchant for social media, Hahn will be working directly with chamber President and CEO Todd Maisch to educate and inform Illinois employers and residents about the mission, goals and accomplishments of the chamber.
Hahn most recently was a press secretary/public information officer at the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office, where she led the effort to rebrand the I-Cash program (formerly Cash Dash) and embark on an ambitious marketing plan that resulted in triple-digit increases in I-Cash web searches and claims. That project won a national Clarion Award for advertising and marketing.
Prior to that, she was statehouse bureau chief with the Illinois Radio Network, and statehouse reporter for WICS-TV Channel 20/WICD-TV Channel 15. She also served as news reporter anchor for several other radio and television stations in Illinois, as a spokeswoman for three other state government agencies, and as an adjunct professor in the Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois at Springfield. She was recently voted in as a vice-president of programs at the Association for Women in Communications-Springfield.
She has a master’s in Public Affairs Reporting from UIS, a bachelor’s in Radio-Television from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and an associate’s from Illinois Valley Community College in Oglesby, Illinois.
She may be reached at mhahn@ilchamber.org or (217) 522-5512, ext. 222.
