Waller loses partner to stepchild of 'Ma Bell'

Former director of city's ECD office to head public affairs for AT&T locally

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse

Tom Jurkovich

Tom Jurkovich, formerly director of Nashville’s economic and community development office under Mayor Bill Purcell and more recently a partner in the powerhouse law firm of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, has been named a senior vice president with VOX Global Mandate.

VOX is a Washington D.C.-based public affairs firm owned by Fleishman Hillard, the worldwide public relations giant, and has close ties with telecom giant AT&T.

Jurkovich fills a position left vacant by the departure of Bob Corney. In September, it was announced that Corney was named to a public affairs position in AT&T's international headquarters in Dallas, but kept his title within VOX Global.

While Corney’s Texas two-step created an opening, the role Jurkovich will play is different than that of his predecessor.

Jurkovich will work primarily for AT&T,  for whom he will handle public affairs in Tennessee. But he will also have substantial involvement with AT&T projects in Washington, D.C., and the larger Southeast region as the telecom industry gears up to confront a new legislative and regulatory environment.

Prior to working for Purcell, Jurkovich served as staff director of the U.S. House of Representatives Administration Committee, as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs with the U.S. Department of Commerce, and as a government affairs director with Microsoft.

James Weaver, a partner at Waller who worked closely with Jurkovich, said of his now former colleague, "We could not be more happy for Tom and wish him well with this tremendous opportunity. Our loss is VOX and AT&T's gain."