Government Twitter accounts can be boring. People in government rarely tweet anything outside what they want to promote as an agenda and . In city politics, will that be any different in the Jim Kenney administration?Well, Kenney’s account has gotten less exciting since he started running for mayor… but there could be a few exceptions to the rule. Here are five new Kenney appointees with active Twitter accounts, along with one new City Council person worth following:
Nina Ahmad (@NinaAhmad405)
- Position: Deputy Mayor of Public Engagement
- Job duties: Basically managing a variety of commissions and offices that work on issues affecting the public.
- Previous work: She’s on Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and is the leader of the Philly branch of the National Organization for Women.
- Why he/she is worth a follow: If she’s the deputy mayor of public engagement, she should definitely be engaging the public on social media.
Anne Gemmell (@AGem191)
- Position: Philadelphia’s Pre-K director
- Job duties: Expanding Philly’s Pre-K program
- Previous work: Co-founder of Education Voters PA
- Why he/she is worth a follow: Gemmell tweets about education advocacy, her own three kids and plenty of random stuff, like music and news stories. She’s one of the only a few Kenney appointees who really tweets a lot.
Helen Gym (@HelenGym2015)
- Position: At-large City Councilwoman
- Job duties: Introducing and voting on legislation
- Previous work: Teacher and co-founder of Parents United
- Why he/she is worth a follow: Gym has been tweeting since before any staffer would have ordered her to do so. She shares a lot of education news and, perhaps surprisingly, UFC analysis.
Otis Hackney (@odhackney3)
- Position: Chief Education Officer
- Job duties: Overseeing education policy, which Kenney wants to focus on community schools
- Previous work: South Philadelphia High School principal
- Why he/she is worth a follow: With Philadelphia in an education crisis, Hackney will be one of the main people in the administration to keep tabs on.
Sheila Hess (@SheilaShowPHL)
- Position: City representative
- Job duties: Presenting Philly as a world-class city and developing tourism and commerce
- Previous work: Director of the Independence Blue Cross Foundation
- Why he/she is worth a follow: Has really started tweeting a lot since Kenney got elected, mostly about things Kenney is doing.
Jane Slusser (@janeslusser)
- Position: Chief of Staff
- Job duties: Keeps everything in order between the mayor and the many others working for him
- Previous work: Campaign manager for Kenney, regional field director of Organizing for America and deputy field organizer for Obama for America 2008.
- Why he/she is worth a follow: She tweets and retweets an array of news from Kenney and others in city and state government and is a rising political star herself.
