Vice President for External Relations Lorraine Voles, who took over the newly created position in February, has tapped a former colleague from Capitol Hill to be her assistant vice president for communications.

Sarah Baldassaro, who previously served as communications director for Sen. Hillary Clinton, will be Voles’ second in command and oversee University Relations – which includes media relations. Voles and Baldassaro were formerly co-workers in Clinton’s office, when Voles was communications director and Baldassaro was deputy communications director.

Voles, who was a spokeswoman for Fannie Mae before coming to GW, replaced veteran journalist Mike Freedman, formerly the University’s vice president of communications. In addition to communications, her new position is also tasked with overseeing the University’s lobbying activities, previously delegated to a separate vice president.

Baldassaro replaces Chris Kormis, who worked at the University for nearly 20 years – eventually as assistant vice president for University Relations – and recently took a job as associate dean for marketing & communications at the Georgetown School of Business.