2 staff members set to leave Hutchinson for posts elsewhere

Ateca Foreman, Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s deputy chief of staff for internal operations, will start work on May 17 as the executive director of the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission.

Katie Beck, Hutchison’s director of communications, will be departing the governor’s office soon, too.

“Both Ateca and Katie’s final day in my office is May 14,” the Republican governor said Friday in a written statement.

Hutchinson said he appointed Foreman as executive director of the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission on April 16.

Foreman’s salary at the fair housing commission will be $120,324 a year, said Alison Williams, the governor’s chief of staff. Foreman’s current salary is $104,630 a year, according to the Arkansas Transparency website.

Foreman previously worked in public housing in Tennessee and Arkansas and brings experience and leadership to her new position, the state Department of Inspector General said in a news release. The Fair Housing Commission is part of the Department of Inspector General.

Hutchinson said he has known Foreman for nearly a decade, and she has worked

for him since the 2014 campaign, in which he was elected to his first four-year term as governor.

“For the past six years, she has managed the operations in the Governor’s Office, including the supervision of casework in the Public Engagement Department,” the governor said.

“But housing is her love, and I am pleased to appoint her to this position,” Hutchinson said in the Department of Inspector General news release. “Her passion will fuel her work to provide housing in Arkansas that is fair and equitable.”

Foreman said in the news release that she is excited to return to “my public policy roots of housing” by moving to the Department of Inspector General, serving as executive director of the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission and working with Department of Inspector General Secretary Elizabeth Smith and the commission’s staff.

The Fair Housing Commission’s former executive director, Leon Jones Jr., resigned in February to focus on vying for the Republican nomination for attorney general in 2022.

Beck has served as the governor’s director of communications since October 2019.

In her April 30 resignation letter to Hutchinson, Beck said that she is forever grateful for the experiences that she had while working for the governor from the early days of the 2014 campaign to serving in the governor’s office as his executive assistant and economic development liaison, to representing the governor at the federal level in Washington, D.C., directing the governor’s communications department and serving as his spokeswoman.

“I will cherish the memories,” she wrote in her letter to the governor.

Beck said that “After serving you and your administration for over six years, it is time for me to move on to other career opportunities.”

“You may rest assured that I will continue to support you and your priorities for our state,” she wrote in her letter to the governor.

Hutchinson said Friday in a written statement that “Katie Beck has been an integral part of my team since the early days of my administration, serving as my Executive Assistant, Director of State-Federal Relations and most recently, as my Director of Communication.”

“She leaves my staff with my best wishes for her future success,” the governor said.

Beck could not be reached for comment by telephone or text Friday afternoon.

Hutchinson has served as governor since 2015, and his second term four-year term as governor will end in January of 2023.