Joe Gibbs Racing names director of communication

Joe Gibbs Racing Names Chris Helein to Serve as Director of Corporate Communications

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (Aug. 22, 2008) -- Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has named Chris Helein as its director of corporate communications, effective immediately.

Helein spent the past two seasons in the NFL as vice president of public relations for the Washington Redskins, where in his second stint with the organization, he worked closely with former head coach and three-time Super Bowl winner Joe Gibbs.

In his new position, Helein will lead all aspects of JGR's public relations efforts, which will include serving as the primary media liaison for JGR and working closely with each team's sponsor representatives. Helein can be reached at 704-944-1562 and at CHelein@JGR18.com.

For the remainder of the 2008 racing season, Helein will work alongside Mike Arning and True Speed Communication, the firm that has handled JGR's corporate communications since 2003. Arning will continue his role as the at-track liaison for JGR and the No. 20 Home Depot team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series through the season finale Nov. 16 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Helein originally joined the Redskins in 1991 as an intern in the team's public relations office. He was named director of information in 1993 and promoted to director of media relations in 1994.

He left the Redskins in 1999 and joined Brotman-Winter-Fried Communications in Washington, D.C., before moving to the Maryland Jockey Club as its director of corporate and racing communications.

Helein launched his own public relations firm, CH Communications, in 2001, but 18 months later was hired by Comcast SportsNet as the company's director of communications. He later advanced to vice president of communications where his responsibilities encompassed all aspects of internal and external communications for Comcast's family of regional sports networks.

A graduate of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., Helein and his family reside in Cornelius, N.C.

-credit: jgr