Tamie McGowen, Deputy Secretary for Communications
Tamie McGowen was appointed Deputy Secretary for Communications at CalSTA by Governor Newsom in February 2023. Tamie served as the Assistant Deputy Director of Public Affairs at Caltrans for 15 years, most recently appointed by Governor Newsom in 2020. She was previously appointed to this same position by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. in 2012 and by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007.
Tamie began her career with Caltrans in 1989 as a student assistant Highway Maintenance Worker on California’s 50,000 lane-mile highway system. In her current position as the Assistant Deputy Director of Caltrans’ Public Affairs Office in Caltrans Headquarters, Tamie led the efforts of nationally recognized multimillion-dollar highway safety campaigns which work aggressively to reduce the number of collisions and fatalities in highway work zones. She also serves as the Director of the Caltrans Honor Guard and pays tribute to fallen highway workers through the annual Caltrans Workers Memorial.
Tamie was the first-ever female official to receive the annual National Safety Award from the American Traffic Safety Services Association in 2007 for outstanding service and dedication to traffic safety.
Tamie has held numerous positions within Caltrans, including Division Chief of Public Affairs, Deputy Advisor and Administrative Services Manager, Deputy Advisor and Resource Manager, Resource Manager for the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), Certification Analyst for Disadvantaged Businesses for OCR, Personnel Services Specialist for the Office of Human Resources, and Office Technician and Support Services Assistant for the Office of Administrative Services.
In her most recent role at Caltrans, she has been responsible for overseeing the Headquarters public information officers, the Graphic Services Unit, the Photography Unit, and providing functional oversight to the Department’s approximately 50 public information officers statewide. This year, Tamie and her team launched the largest public education and outreach contract in Caltrans’ history with the Clean CA Public Education and Outreach Contract, and recently received a national award for outreach efforts for the statewide Clean CA statewide dump day event held earlier this year. Tamie also spearheaded the Caltrans news flash video series and Caltrans News Flash page, resulting in nearly 250 videos highlighting the wide-ranging and critical work that Caltrans does to enhance California’s economy and livability.
Tamie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from California State University, Sacramento. In her spare time, Tamie enjoys sharing quality time with her family and dog Bodie, camping, traveling, and enjoying the beautiful outdoors.