GARY SOMERSET
Chief Communications Officer
As GPO’s Chief Communications Officer, Somerset serves as Agency spokesperson, manages GPO’s social media platforms, oversees GPO’s public relations activities, employee communications, branding, photography and special events. He serves as the principal advisor to GPO’s Director, Deputy Director and Chief of Staff and executives on all communication strategies and opportunities.
Biography
Somerset has more than two decades of media, public relations and communications experience. Prior to being promoted to Chief Communications Officer in 2023, he managed GPO’s Public Relations Office. He has been part of the Agency’s GPO’s Public Relations Office since 2006. During his tenure, Somerset has promoted and placed numerous stories on the important work GPO teammates do for our country in national media outlets such as NBC News, CNN, The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Somerset created and manages GPO’s presence on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest. He is responsible for producing, directing and narrating Agency-produced videos. Several of those videos have won awards for GPO, including the American Business Award for Public Relations Production of the Year, Hermes Creative Award for Annual Report Video, AVA Gold Award for Voice-Over Talent, and AVA Platinum Award for Video Production. Somerset has also been honored for his public relations initiatives by the leader of GPO with three Public Printer Distinguished Service Awards. During the COVID pandemic, he led all of the Agency’s communications groups to more than doubling the amount of information disseminated to external and internal audiences, which was instrumental in GPO being named one of the best places to work in America two years in a row.
Prior to coming to GPO, Somerset spent more than a decade working as a broadcast journalist at several network television affiliates throughout the country. He covered Presidential campaigns, newsmakers and community issues as a news anchor/reporter at WSYX-TV in Columbus, OH, WKEF-TV in Dayton, OH, WXXA-TV in Albany, NY and KSWT-TV in Yuma, AZ. Somerset began his television career at WFSB-TV in his home state of Connecticut.
Somerset graduated from Northeastern University in Boston, MA with a Bachelor of
Science degree in Journalism.