Barbara Payne
 Barbara Payne is President of Payne
Communications. In a
communications career that now
spans four decades, she has
specialized in translating
complex and/or technical topics
into consumer language in three
critical arenas. During the
1970’s and early 80’s she worked
in the energy industry;
in the late 1980’s, she
specialized in medical
communications; and since the
mid-1990’s, she has focused on
water topics.
She started her public relations
career in 1970 with the American
Petroleum Institute in
Washington, D.C., the national
trade association for the oil
industry. During the 1973-74
Arab Embargo, Barbara was the
oil industry’s spokesperson on
radio and television talk shows
across the country. She wrote,
narrated and appeared in
documentary films about oil
industry operations -- including
offshore drilling, energy
conservation, and the
construction of the Alaska
Pipeline -- which were all aired
on national television.
Barbara came to Houston in 1975
as Director of Consumer Affairs
for Gulf Oil Corporation where
she created a national energy
education program for elementary
grades and a unit on consumerism
for the high school level. She
testified before the U.S. House
Government Operations Committee
as Gulf’s representative
opposing legislation to create a
Federal Consumer Protection
Agency.
During the late
1980's, Barbara shifted to
medicine, and consulted with
northwest Houston medical
facilities and prominent
physicians. She hosted the KSEV
radio talk show, DOCTORS ON
CALL; was the editor of
ON CALL magazine; and wrote
a weekly column -- Medically
Speaking -- for Sun Newspapers.
In a joint venture with The
Texas Network, Barbara wrote and
edited an award-winning
cyber-magazine, Your Family's
Health.
Today, she serves as
Communications director for the
North and West Harris County
Regional Water Authorities, the
North Fort Bend Water Authority.
The Harris-Galveston Subsidence
District, the San Jacinto River
Authority, The Woodlands Joint
Powers Agency, Lone Star
Groundwater Conservation
District and a growing
number of water-related
businesses and utility districts
are also among her clients. She
was recently selected to
provide communications
services to the Texas Water
Conservation Association In 2004, Harris
County Commissioners Court
appointed Barbara as a Harris
County Emergency Services
District #11 Commissioner, and
she served as President of that
board for four years. When an
opportunity for travel occurs,
she and her husband, Jim, head
across the pond to England or,
for shorter escapes, to the
Texas Hill Country.
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