John Barrett Townsend II currently serves as the Manager of Public and Government Relations for AAA Mid-Atlantic in its Washington office. His professional background encompasses varied careers in broadcast journalism, local government, the high tech industry, and Capitol Hill. Prior to joining AAA Mid-Atlantic he served as a Communications Director and Legislative Assistant for U.S. Representative Scotty Baesler for the Sixth District of Kentucky. For nearly a decade he was the Press Secretary for the Mayor of Lexington. All told, he has served three members of Congress as a speech writer or Communications Director. He is also a veteran of political campaigns on the local, statewide, and national levels.He left the Hill to serve as an appointee to the U.S. Department of Energy. He was a public affairs officer and a special occasion speech writer for Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. He went on to serve as the Director of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs for Avaya Inc., one of America’s leading telecommunications providers.
He is a former broadcast journalist, reporting the news at radio stations and television stations in Huntsville, Alabama (WEUP Radio – co-host of “Inner City News, Views and Interviews,” WAAY Radio – host “Rapping with WAAY” and “Dialogue” and WAAY-TV – Host “Dialogue with John Barrett Townsend”), Baton Rouge, Louisiana (WBRZ-TV- general assignment reporter ) and Lexington, Kentucky (WLEX TV – broadcast journalist, news producer and news assignment editor, WKYT TV – host of “Directions with John Townsend”).
John Townsend holds a BA in English and Political Science from Alabama A&M University, a master’s in International Relations from the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce at the University of Kentucky and another master’s, this one in writing, from Johns Hopkins University.