Arkansas Public Policy Panel Appoints New Policy Director - September 17, 2015
Little Rock, AR - The Arkansas Public Policy Panel announced today that Kymara Seals is the nonprofit’s new Policy Director. Seals’ role is to help grassroots communities build stronger coalitions and campaigns to improve economic and educational opportunities, address environmental and social justice needs and work on other priorities chosen by leaders.
Seals is a 1988 honor graduate and Lion Scholar of Hamburg High School and a 1994 honor graduate of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science. An Arkansas native, Seals comes with a strong political background and experience building successful campaigns in the Natural State, including a successful statewide grassroots voter empowerment campaign for the NAACP National Voter Fund. For twelve years she served as Deputy State Director for US Senator Mark Pryor where she worked on various policy issues with her D.C. counterparts and supervised a team of caseworkers that helped constituents navigate through federal bureaucracy. She also supervised a team of field staff who traveled the state of Arkansas where they developed and maintained relationships with elected officials, major business and industry, chamber of commerce directors, community leaders, universities, colleges, community college officials, governmental relations liaisons, public relations directors, county project coordinators, and grant administrators. In addition, Kymara attended and participated in local and regional economic development meetings, governmental and political meetings.
Seals will focus on strengthening the advocacy capacity, political engagement, and other strategic missions of the Panel and the Citizens First Congress.
“I’ve been involved in politics for more than two decades, and it is exciting to join an organization that is successfully engaging people and communities in the process,” Seals said. “The Panel has laid a strong foundation of leaders who understand the importance of working together for the greater good. I look forward to building on that groundwork to make sure these groups can be even more effective in their communities and statewide.”
The Panel’s Executive Director, Bill Kopsky said “Kymara knows the state of Arkansas and the many issues we face here. Her professional and life experiences provide a valuable set of tools that will help the Panel and Citizens First Congress achieve real progress and empower grassroots groups to create a better state for all of us.”