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Worked at Louisville Water since 2017
Every month, NewsSplash pops into your inbox. If you’re a local educator, you might also receive issues of H2knOW, a special newsletter designed for schools, teachers, and administrators we partner with through Louisville Water’s Education and Outreach programming.
Have you ever wondered who is working behind the scenes week after week to create those publications?
Meet Communications Specialist Thomas Pack. Pack started as a freelancer for Louisville Water in 2017. That turned into a part-time job which led to a full-time role last year. Pack’s passion for journalism started as a student at UofL where he wrote for the student newspaper and edited the student magazine. He took that experience into the real world upon graduating with an English degree.
“My first job after college was working for a company called UMI/Data Courier, which was among the world’s first online publishing companies. Louisville’s prominent Bingham family were the original owners at a time when they also owned The Courier-Journal and the WHAS television and radio stations.”
Pack went on to work as a freelance writer, which included assignments for Louisville Business First, in addition to doing graphic design.
“Then I joined the Communications Department at Jefferson County Public Schools. I met Louisville Water Vice President of Communications Kelley Dearing-Smith during that time because I worked with her husband who was a JCPS videographer and producer of the district’s Our Kids TV program.”
Little did Pack know that introduction would lead him to a new career, sharing the stories of Louisville Pure Tap®.
“Louisville Water was already publishing NewsLeaks (employee newsletter) when I joined the company, but I have edited and sent out every issue every week since I started as a part-time employee nearly seven years ago. I developed the first issue of NewsSplash in 2017 and I helped develop H2knOw at the end of 2020,” Pack said.
But it wasn’t until last year that he made the leap to a full-time position at Louisville Water. He had an opportunity for a job working remotely for a Florida university, but his heart kept him here.
“It’s a great company, which is evident in the many employees I’ve met who’ve been here for decades. I stayed with Louisville Water because of the people and the many interesting projects I get to work on. Louisville Water employees have a lot of great stories to tell,” Pack shared.
One of Pack’s favorite projects is writing, editing, designing, and taking photos for the Louisville Water Foundation Annual Report.
It’s hard to imagine how Pack has free time, but when he does, he enjoys spending time with his wife and their two daughters. That often means hitting the high notes!
“I enjoy playing piano and drums. My mother was a music teacher, so I started learning both instruments when I was young, and I played drums in various bands in high school and college. Now, I spend most Sunday afternoons just jammin’ with my wife, who plays an electric standup bass.”
Pack’s interest in music is never far away. As a freelancer, he kept a drumstick that he’d often spin or fiddle with when he was antsy or deep in thought. Let’s just say old habits die hard.
“I discovered that I missed the drumstick and even found it hard to write because I didn’t have one as a fidget toy. I ended up taking drumsticks to my JCPS office. Coworkers sometimes caught me staring at my computer monitor and spinning one. I haven’t done that much at Louisville Water, but I still have drumsticks in my laptop bag in case I need one.”
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