Strategic Communications and Public Affairs - Acting Assistant Administrator
Sterling A. Payne
Sterling Payne was appointed Acting Assistant Administrator for the Transportation Security Administration’s Strategic Communications and Public Affairs (SCPA) in January 2025. She serves as advisor to TSA’s senior leadership on all external and internal communications, specifically employee, public, industry and media engagement. Payne also directs the agency’s strategy for media relations, social media, marketing and communications production.
Payne previously served as TSA’s Deputy Director of the Training Centers Division, which is part of the agency’s Training and Development. She was responsible for training operations at the TSA Academy in Glynco, Georgia, the TSA Training Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the TSA Canine Training Center in San Antonio, Texas.
Payne also served as the Deputy Federal Security Director at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, where she managed the day-to-day operations of the sixth busiest Category X airport in the United States. She was also the Deputy Assistant Administrator (DAA) for TSA’s Office of Public Affairs several years before returning as SCPA’s Acting Assistant Administrator. Under her leadership, TSA built its first television studio. Prior to being named DAA, Payne served as the Media Relations Manager, overseeing the agency’s regional spokespeople.
Before joining TSA in 2007, Payne was the Senior Public Relations Manager at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and served as the head of Public Relations for Alabama’s Birmingham City School System and the DeKalb County School System in Decatur, Georgia.
From 1993 to 2001, she worked as a commercial television news reporter and manager with local stations throughout the south. She started in Columbus, Georgia, with WRBL before moving to WAAY-TV in Huntsville, Alabama, and WVTM in Birmingham.