Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell announced Tuesday that Andrew Pereira will be leaving his position as communications director at the City and County of Honolulu to take a new position in the private sector.

Pereira’s last day at Honolulu Hale will be Dec. 31. He will be joining the team at CommPac, a Honolulu-based public relations firm, as a vice president, starting Jan. 2.

“Andrew has been an important member of my senior staff and cabinet,” said Caldwell in a news release. “I’ll always appreciate his incredible energy, hard work and total dedication to the city. We wish him all the best in his new position.”

Pereira joined the city in December 2015 as a public information officer, and was named communications director in April 2018.

CommPac said in a news release that Pereira will serve as the lead on several accounts, providing strategic counsel, planning and implementation of various external initiatives on behalf of its clients.

“My time at the City and County of Honolulu has been the most rewarding experience of my professional life thus far, and I want to thank all of the members of the city ohana for their collaboration, professionalism and esprit de corps over the past four years,” Pereira said in the release. “I want to especially thank Mayor Caldwell, Managing Director Roy K. Amemiya Jr. and Deputy Managing Director Georgette Deemer for allowing me to help tell the story of this administration, which has accomplished a lot of good. Through their example of principled governance, I have learned a lot about executive leadership and I take those lessons with me in my next journey.”

Pereira joined the mayor’s communications team in 2015 after a 20-year career in broadcast journalism, including recognition as an award-winning investigative reporter at KITV and KHON2.

His notable accomplishments include the Edward R. Murrow award and the Society of Professional Journalists award for investigative reporting, in addition to the George Mason Outstanding Business Reporting award. In 2015, “The Fix” named Pereira the best political reporter on Hawaii television.

The mayor’s office said a new communications director will be named at a later date.