Our leadership
Howie Padilla
Communications director
Howie Padilla has more than two decades of communications experience in the Twin Cities Metro Area working on both sides of the media and public relations table. He has been with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety since 2022.
As a reporter for the Star Tribune, Howie covered public safety issues in the Twin Cities and throughout the state, including a school shooting on the Red Lake Reservation, law enforcement safety issues, and criminal trials. In 2007, he left the Star Tribune to help Saint Paul Public Schools with media relations work.
Since then, he has built a public relations career at the St. Paul Police Department, Metro Transit, and the City of Minneapolis.
He has helped guide communications in a variety of events and investigations including Super Bowl LII, the investigation of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, officer-involved shooting events, and everyday acts of kindness and heroism.
His passion for public safety and for joining a communications team that tells the stories of those that serve the more than 5.5 million people in the state are what drew him to the Department of Public Safety.
Nicole Roddy
Deputy communications director
Nicole Roddy has more than 20 years of experience in television news and strategic communications, including leadership roles in producing high-impact storytelling. Before joining the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS), she was an executive producer at KSTP and worked as an anchor, reporter and producer in Sioux Falls and Mankato.
She joined DPS in 2022 as a communications specialist and later became a supervisor supporting communications staff for the agency’s emergency services divisions. In those roles, she helped strengthen emergency communications, supported critical incident messaging and guided team development.
She now serves as deputy director, where she applies her newsroom and communications leadership to support crisis response and public engagement across Minnesota, while also focusing on team development. She is passionate about public safety and serving communities across the state.