Dee Dee Whittaker Joins WJ Team In Paducah

Dee Dee Whittaker brings to her new assignment handling Waterways Journal advertising accounts in the Southeast region a formidable background in sales. A Paducah native, Whittaker worked in Atlanta and Florida before returning to her roots. She joined a bank in Paducah in 1990, starting out in a sales role.

“It was just after banking deregulation happened under Reagan,” she said. “Banks began to realize that they couldn’t just sit back and take orders anymore; they needed to go out and cultivate relationships with customers.”

That suited her; Whittaker says she enjoys the relationship building that comes with sales work. In all, she spent 14 years in banking sales, winding up as a branch manager for Citizens’ Bank.

She also has eight years of experience in TV ad sales. Active in her community, Whittaker recently completed a year serving as president of the Paducah’s 100-year-old Rotary Club.

WJ Open House

Whittaker, along with new Paducah WJ correspondent and award-winning journalist Shelly Byrne and other WJ staff members, will be co-hosting an open house March 25, from 2 to 5 p.m., to be held at the Paducah offices of the Seamen’s Church Institute at 129 Water Street in downtown Paducah.