Since July 2020, Lillian Govus APR has served as Director of Communications & Public Engagement for Buncombe County Government, and her team is responsible for crisis communications, internal and external communications, community engagement, website administration, creative services, media relations, and public record management. In 2025, she was named the 3CMA Communicator of the Year after leading the response to the devastation caused by Tropical Storm Helene's landfall in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Lillian came to Buncombe County from Oregon where she served as the Director of Community Relations and Communications for Salem-Keizer Public Schools in Oregon's capital. Lillian has also led communications for two large urban school districts in North Carolina and Georgia, the City of Atlanta's Department of Watershed Management, and was chief of staff to Georgia Senator Nan Orrock. Lillian has also served as an instructor with the University of Oregon's Administrative Licensure Program for educators. Lillian is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and she began her career in the same city as a reporter with the News & Record, a mid-size daily newspaper. In her free time, Lillian enjoys gardening, riding motorcycles with her husband Karl, or hiking with their dogs, Ralph and Porkchop.