New Carpentersville HR director taking on a dual role

As a freshman studying journalism at Northern Illinois University, Samantha Brunell narrowly survived the February 2008 shooting that killed five of her classmates and injured 21 others.

Among the chaos and devastation during and after the shooting, Brunell said, one of her mentors was serving as the lead public information officer, relaying information to students, faculty, families and reporters.

Now, Brunell, 27, who started a new position at the Village of Carpentersville last week, pinpoints that day as the moment she recognized the importance of efficient communication.

"I realized that was such an important role to have. I realized I wanted to be a part of not only being able to point out issues, but I also wanted to be able to take the appropriate actions to change an organization," she said. "As a public administrator or any department head or manager, communication is vital. The shooting opened my eyes to that."

Carpentersville recently hired Brunell, a Gurnee resident, to serve a dual role as the human resources director and the assistant to the village manager with public relations responsibilities.

Village Manager Mark Rooney said the village has been seeking a qualified candidate to fill such a role for about a year. Brunell, whose starting salary is about $70,000, is replacing interim HR director Kathy Lamkin, who was hired as a part-time paid consultant, Rooney said.

"(Brunell) is really going to be someone that we lean on heavily (for) communications skills and working with media representatives so we get stories out timely and efficiently," Rooney said.

In addition to her strong writing abilities and oral communication skills, he said, Brunell, a Master of Public Administration with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism, was hired because of her expansive experience. Previously, she worked in administrative and communications roles at the City of Rockford and the NIU Center for Governmental Studies before landing a job at the Village of Palatine.

There, she wore many hats as a management analyst; her responsibilities ranged from HR administrative and other general management duties to handling public relations and coordinating special events. She is also specially trained in collective bargaining and crisis communications.

"There's people with more HR experience behind them and there's people with more PR experience," Rooney said, "but nobody else that had a combination of that skill set."

Brunell said her job in Carpentersville is a unique opportunity that combines her strengths and allows her to build the position's foundation.

"This position was very ideal to me because I do realize the importance of establishing clear lines of communication not only within your organization, but within your community and with your residents and business owners," Brunell said. "The village is already doing some amazing things, and I think the organization working together can only improve the services provided to the residents. That starts with improving the communications within the organization."