Former Gavin Newsom Spokesman Joins Green For All as Communications Director

Oakland, CA – Today Green For All, a national organization working to build an inclusive green economy, announced that former Gavin Newsom spokesman, Brian Purchia, is joining the organization as its Communications Director. Purchia, a California-based media strategist, most recently led communications for Change.org, an online platform for social change. He also recently ran new media for Proposition C, San Francisco’s collaborative effort with the labor and business community to reform the City’s pension system. In addition to his duties as Communications Director, Purchia will also join Green For All’s Executive Board.

“The movement for a clean energy economy needs the best if we are going to defeat Big Oil,” said Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO of Green For All. “Brian has an impressive track record of shaping policies that improve our environment and make our government smarter by bringing more people into the process.”

From 2007-2010, Purchia was San Francisco Mayor Newsom’s Deputy Communications Director and chief advisor for new media. The San Francisco Chronicle described Purchia as Newsom’s “go-to guy for new, and especially social media” for his implementation of a groundbreaking new media strategy called “gutsy” and “brilliant” on NPR. Purchia’s work, described by Craigslist founder Craig Newmark as “genuinely innovative,” led to Newsom’s ranking as the “Number One Mayor” for his use of social media by the leading search engine for tracking consumer-generated opinions, Samepoint.

Newsom’s extensive new media operation was used to build the mayor’s reputation as an environmental leader. In 2010, Newsom was selected the greenest mayor for the second year in a row by TreeHugger. Purchia worked with Green For All’s Founder Van Jones to help launch the organization in 2007-2008. Brian was also the driving force behind the nation’s first open data law, open source software policy, and API for government.

Prior to entering politics and government, Purchia worked in media, developing one of the first mobile TV networks for the U.S. market while working for WeatherNews in Japan. From 2002-2005 he was a nightly news reporter for Voice of America in Washington, DC, covering international stories for a worldwide audience. He also worked in local news for KTXL Fox40 in Sacramento.