Phil Newman
Phil Newman, a longtime Knoxville- and Nashville-area communications and public relations professional, has joined the Tennessee Association of Realtors (TAR) in the role of director of Communications.
In this key leadership role, Mr. Newman will serve to advance TAR’s strategic priorities in communications and community outreach, while supporting the Association’s initiatives in public-policy advocacy, education and professional-standards training.
“As a part of our longstanding commitment to help our more than 21,000 members statewide to succeed in their professional endeavors, communications and community outreach have become increasingly vital,” said Steve Harding, executive vice president of the Tennessee Association of Realtors. “We are excited to welcome Phil Newman as a new team member focusing fully on communicating with our members and with raising public awareness of the indispensable expertise that realtors provide throughout Tennessee.”
Mr. Newman is founding principal of Franklin-based NewManifest Communications, whose clients have spanned corporate, educational and nonprofit organizations. For the past two years, he has served TAR on a contract basis, providing media-relations services and leading an effort to promote the association’s Graduate Realtor Institute (GRI) program.
Mr. Newman previously directed communications and public relations for Christ Presbyterian Academy (CPA) and the YMCA of Middle Tennessee. He has served as communications administrator for hospital giant HCA, account executive for McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations LLC, and award-winning daily business reporter for the Nashville Banner. In addition, he has served as Senior Writer for Knoxville’s Cityviewmagazine, contributing writer to Homecoming magazine, and editor/writer for HarperCollins and Thomas Nelson publishers. He began his career with stints writing for Fortune magazine in New York and for Whittle Communications in Knoxville.
Mr. Newman holds a bachelor’s in Communications (Journalism-News Editorial,with highest honors) from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. A graduate of Knoxville’s Farragut High School, he had previously attended Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.
A native of South Carolina, where his father is a realtor, Mr.Newman has called Tennessee home for the past 31 years. He and his family make their home in Franklin.
In the community, Mr. Newman volunteers with a nonprofit providing relief and education in Central Asia, serves as the play-by-play broadcast voice of Nashville FC in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), and handles P.A. duties as the “Voice of the Cougars” for Centennial High School in Franklin.