Lehigh Valley reporter named mayor’s communications manager

Allentown Mayor-elect Matt Tuerk announced Thursday his picks for both communications manager and administrative assistant, who will work alongside him when he takes office in January.

Genesis Ortega, a regional affairs and politics reporter for PBS39 and WLVR News, will take over from Mike Moore as communications director. Moore has served as the city’s communications manager since 2007.

Ortega moderated two mayoral debates during Tuerk’s campaign, and it was her skill doing so that prompted Tuerk to offer her the job, he said.

“[Ortega] will be a really great hire in a city that desperately needs to upgrade its communications,” Tuerk said. “The feedback that I’ve gotten from the beginning of this campaign was that our city is full of amazing stories and we need to do a better job of telling them.”

Ortega is a graduate of Allentown Central Catholic High School and holds a degree in international management and French from Moravian College in Bethlehem, which is now Moravian University. Ortega will make $75,400 a year, according to the 2022 proposed city budget.

“I’m so honored, especially as an Afro-Latina, to take on this role,” Ortega said in a news release. “My goal will be to strengthen the lines of communication between Allentown and its residents and stakeholders while also considering how different communities receive news and information.”

Michaela Boyer, Tuerk’s former campaign director, will be his administrative assistant. Boyer is a former intern for Congresswoman Susan Wild’s Allentown office and graduated from Muhlenberg College in 2020.

Boyer started as a door-knocking volunteer for Tuerk’s campaign, he said. She took the helm from his previous campaign director, who left for a full-time job after the May primary, and has been serving as his transition coordinator since he won the November election.

“I was struggling after my first debate and Michaela, she pretty much grabbed me by the lapels and said ‘Listen, you need to take this seriously!’ ” Tuerk said. “It was an awesome, eye-opening moment, and I realized I need this person to be by my side as we work to serve the city of Allentown.”

Boyer will make $52,468 a year, according to proposed 2022 budget.

“Connecting with Allentown and its residents on the campaign trail was an invaluable experience,” Boyer said in a news release. “It gave me more insight into some of the struggles and hopes that residents have for the city, much of which resonated with me as a Puerto Rican woman.”

The two hires signal Tuerk’s commitment to hiring Spanish speakers and engaging with Allentown’s majority Hispanic population, he said. Both Boyer and Ortega speak Spanish and identify as Latina.

Tuerk said he plans to announce a hire for the currently vacant managing director position soon. Though he is replacing Moore and current administrative assistant Latoya Mitchell, Tuerk said all of the city’s department heads and bureau managers will keep their jobs.

“There are really tremendously talented people working in Allentown,” Tuerk said. “I don’t want to come in and clean house.

“I think when you try to come in and wipe everybody out and bring in your own people, you end up losing a ton.”