Jenny LaCoste Caputo

Jenny LaCoste-Caputo is an award-winning writer and veteran communicator with extensive experience in crisis communications, media relations and public policy. Since January 2023, Jenny has served as Deputy Chief Communications Director for the City of Austin where she leads strategic communications, including crisis response, policy positioning, and the City’s emergency communications planning and execution.

Previously, Jenny served as Executive Director of External Communications for The University of Texas System, coordinating media efforts and providing strategic communication guidance to the System’s 13 academic and health institutions, as well as directing UT System’s creative team on digital and marketing initiatives. She has also served as Chief of Public Affairs for Round Rock Independent School District, a large suburban school system serving a large swath of the Austin area which includes 56 campuses, 7,000 employees and 50,000 students.  In addition to serving as chief advisor to the Superintendent of Schools, she led strategic communications, built brand recognition and reputation, established crisis communication protocols, and strengthened legislative advocacy.

A former journalist who spent 15 years as a reporter and editor, garnering state, national and international awards, Jenny also served as the Texas Association of School Administrators’ (TASA) founding director of communications and media relations. In this role, she amplified the voice of Texas school superintendents to the Texas Legislature and across the state and promoted TASA as a major contributor to the national discourse on public education. 

Jenny holds a master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts in history with an emphasis in journalism from the University of Maryland.