2000 Harold Burson, founder chairman, Burson-Marsteller
Harold Burson's position as a preeminent specialist in public relations is undisputed. It is little wonder that PR Week named him "the century's most influential PR figure." Burson's credits include co-founding the world's largest public relations agency, Burson-Marsteller.
Born to English parents in Memphis, Tennessee, Burson paid his way through college by writing for a newspaper. That experience led to a job helping a company gain community support for construction of a controversial ammunitions facility during World War II.
Burson went on to help that company gain public acceptance for a nuclear plant at Oak Ridge. In 1943, he entered the military, finding himself clearing mines from the beaches of Normandy after D-Day. He also reported for the American Forces Network.
Like many public information officers, Burson opened a public relations agency after the war. As his agency grew, he developed a business relationship with Chicago advertising executive Bill Marsteller. The two men established Burson-Marsteller in 1953.
The new agency grew quickly. Geneva became its first overseas office in 1961. The addition of high-profile clients like General Motors fueled the growth. Today, Burson-Marsteller alumni occupy public relations offices throughout the world. Six of the 10 largest public relations firms are or have been headed by a former Burson-Marsteller employee.
Today (2000), Burson serves as founder chairman of Burson-Marsteller. He and his wife of more than 50 years, Bette, live in the Westchester home that has been their residence since the 1950s. The couple has two sons.
Links:
Burson-Marsteller (www.bm.com/)
2001 Fraser P. Seitel, founder, Emerald Partners
Characterizing Fraser Seitel's multiple audiences is somewhat akin to a definition of ubiquitous. They're everywhere!
Two hundred colleges and universities have selected his outstanding text, The Practice of Public Relations. He recently stepped down as Editor of the Public Relations Society of America's Strategist magazine. He appears frequently on FOX News, The O'Reilly Factor, The Edge and also on CNN's Inside Politics, as well as Larry King Live. He speaks worldwide using satellite technology. And he's an Internet columnist for odwyerpr.com.
Last year (2000), PR Week magazine named Mr. Seitel one of the "100 Most Distinguished Public Relations Professionals of the 20th Century." For more than two decades, he was associated with The Chase Manhattan Bank, first as Director of Public Affairs and later as Senior Vice President. During that period, he counseled three generations of Chase Chairmen -- David Rockefeller, Willard Butcher and Thomas Labrecque. Currently, he is assisting Mr. Rockefeller in his memoirs.
After resigning from Chase approximately 10 years ago, Mr. Seitel formed the communications consulting firm, Emerald Partners. He also became Senior Counselor for Corporate and Financial Communications at Burson-Marsteller. He provides investment and management communications counsel to such organizations as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Comptroller of the Currency, American Bankers Association, Mutual of New York, Tiffany, Northern Telecom and numerous banks. An array of foreign business executives also seeks his communications advice.
2002 Richard H. Truitt, principal, Truitt Partners LLC
Dick Truitt is principal of Truitt Partners LLC, the Connecticut-based communications consulting company, and a counselor to executives at corporations and communications firms throughout the world. He also is a frequent speaker, workshop facilitator and trainer on subjects related to public relations strategy and firm management.
Prior to forming his firm in 1991, Truitt was president of Doremus & Co., a large corporate/financial advertising and public relations agency. He also served for 26 years at Carl Byoir & Associates, then the world's largest public relations firm, where he became executive vice president in charge of U.S. operations and directly supervised the firm's office in Washington, DC.
Truitt has counseled senior management at Hallmark, Honeywell, Kimberly-Clark, Fisher-Price, Delta Air Lines, Citicorp, Eastman Kodak, GTE, and Philip Morris, as well as a number of prominent industry associations.
For public relations firms, Truitt has initiated and provided continuing counsel on mergers and acquisitions and also the formation of regional, national and worldwide networks. His work is focused primarily on succession planning and firm evaluation and he often serves as an expert witness on these and related topics.
Truitt is an experience speech writer on corporate issues, and has written frequently for company chief executives and for two former Presidents of the United States. He is past Chairman of the Counselors Academy of PRSA and was Chairman of the Society's 1985 National Conference. He was elected to the PRSA College of Fellows in 1991. He has served on numerous corporate and community boards.
Truitt's book, Strategic Public Relations Counseling, was published by Longman, Inc., in 1987 and now is available in paperback. Truitt founded, and was the first chairman of the editorial board of, The Public Relations Strategist, the PRSA magazine for corporate management.
Before joining Byoir, Truitt was a business reporter at the Chicago Tribune. He holds bachelor and masters degrees in journalism from Northwestern University. He served as a Marine Corps officer in Korea.
2003 Daniel J. Edelman, founder & chairman, Daniel J. Edelman, Inc.
Daniel J. Edelman is recognized as a leader and innovator in the development of public relations practices, standards and ethics in the U.S. and internationally. For more than a half century, he has made major contributions to advance the visibility of the profession and has been a staunch advocate of its important contributions. He also has given unstintingly of his time to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), to students interested in public relations and to many philanthropic and social service organizations and causes.
Mr. Edelman continues to challenge public relations practitioners to serve as the conscience of their organizations. He believes a cornerstone of the practice is to counsel corporations to do the right thing and to communicate information on corporate governance and newsworthy developments in an open, transparent manner. Citing heightened distrust of corporate America, he believes it is the responsibility of public relations to counsel senior management on conveying to stakeholders the recognition of new commitments to totally honest operations. He has stated that the accustomed role of public relations is to help rebuild confidence in American corporations and institutions.
He is founder and chairman of Daniel J. Edelman, Inc. and the two public relations firms that are its operating companies -- Edelman, the largest privately-held independent and sixth largest public relations firm in the world; and PR21, a sister firm that specializes in consumer marketing, technology, healthcare, corporate affairs and crisis management and is the seventh largest global independent firm.
Mr. Edelman has steered the growth of the firm since its founding in Chicago in October 1952. Today, Daniel J. Edelman, Inc. is a global network of 44 offices in North America, South America, Europe and Asia-Pacific and more than 50 affiliates worldwide. The firm employs approximately 1,800 persons.
Mr. Edelman is a graduate of Columbia College and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. He worked as a reporter in Poughkeepsie, NY before being drafted into the Army in 1942. During World War II, he served with the Psychological Warfare Division writing a nightly analysis of German propaganda. After the war, he became a newswriter for CBS. He was hired by the Toni Company in 1948 as its public relations director and remained there for four years before opening his own firm.
He believed early in his firm's history that public relations needed to be practiced in a professional manner with commitment to the highest standards. Recognizing that the United States was ahead of most of the rest of the world, he realized the firm would need to expand and have company-owned international offices if it were to advance the practice and serve clients in global markets.
His firm expanded domestically throughout the 1960s. He personally opened the first international office in London in 1967, which was followed by acquisitions leding to growth throughout Europe. Continued expansion throughout the next three decades saw Edelman move into Canada in 1972, Asia in 1984, Australia in 1987 and Latin America in 1994.
Mr. Edelman has been a PRSA member for 51 years as well as being one of the profession's most outspoken advocates. He served as President of the Counselors Academy (1966-67) and PRSA Counselors Board Member (1961-66). He founded the Annual Spring Conference, which was inaugurated during his tenure as Counselors Academy president.
Mr. Edelman has received many national and international awards for his work.
Links:
Edelman (www.edelman.com), PR21 (www.pr21.com)
2004 Betsy Plank, Ameritech
Betsy Plank might be called public relations' First Lady.
As both a woman and as a public relations professional, Plank has achieved a career of firsts. She was the first woman elected president of the Public Relations Society of America, and the first person to receive PRSA's two top professional honors: the Gold Anvil as the nation's outstanding professional and the Lund Award for exemplary civic and community service. At Ameritech she was the first female to head a company department, directing external affairs.
Plank credits The University of Alabama for much of her success. She says the school provided an outstanding foundation for her career even though there was no such thing as a public relations major when she graduated with a bachelor's degree in history ill 1944. "The University gave me those rich disciplines which have served so faithfully throughout a professional lifetime," she said.
Plank served as executive vice president and treasurer of Edelman Public Relations, an international counseling firm. She joined the Bell System in 1973 and later served as director of public relations planning for AT&T before joining Ameritech (formerly Illinois Bell) where she was the .first woman to head a department, directing a staff of 102.
She spent more than 17 years with Ameritech and it was here that she faced her greatest challenge - shaping and articulating that institution's response to the divestiture of the Bell System.
Her dedication to public relations education is unexcel1ed. Northern Illinois University, Ball State University, the University of Texas, Kent State University, and the University of Florida all have honored her for excellence in the field. She co-chaired the 1987 national commission to develop guidelines for the undergraduate public relations curriculum at colleges and universities and is a founding member of PRSA's College of Fellows, an honorary group of national leaders in public relations.
"I think public relations is fundamental to a democratic society," she says, explaining that the framers of the constitution were, in a sense, the nation's first practitioners of public relations. "It's necessary because people need to be informed, and they need to make intelligent choices. Public relations is the broker of that kind of information."
2005 Ginger Hardage, Southwest Airlines
Ginger Hardage, Senior Vice President Corporate Communications for Southwest Airlines Co., oversees the Public Relations, Employee Communications, Civic and Charitable Contributions, Legislative Awareness, Pass Bureau, and Emergency Response Departments at Southwest Airlines. Ms. Hardage began her career with Southwest Airlines in December of 1990.
Ms. Hardage has worked in public relations in the Dallas area for more than 25 years. Before beginning her career at Southwest, she worked at Maxus Energy Corporation and its predecessor, Diamond Shamrock Corporation, holding a variety of public relations positions, including Director of Communications. She began her career with Life Insurance Company of the Southwest in Marketing Communications.
Ms. Hardage was named the Top Corporate Public Relations Practitioner in 1995 by Inside PR , a national trade magazine. PRWeek has named Ms. Hardage one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Public Relations and the Texas Public Relations Association (TPRA) named her its PR Practitioner of the Year for 2000. That same year, the Southwest Airlines Corporate Communications team was named the Top Communications Department in the nation by PRWeek .
In 1999, the Texas Public Relations Association also recognized Southwest Airlines with its highest corporate award, The Lone Star Award, for consistently placing a high priority on the practice of creative public relations. Other awards to the public relations department include a Gold Quill for media relations from the International Association of Business Communicators and Best in Show from the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International.
Ms. Hardage is a past President of the Dallas Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators, a member of the Southern Methodist University Public Relations Advisory Board, the Texas Tech Rawls College of Business Advisory Board, the Public Relations Society of America, and a graduate of Leadership Texas. She previously served on the boards of Big Brothers and Sisters of Metropolitan Dallas and Southwest Care.
Ms. Hardage received a B.A. in Advertising/Public Relations from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas and was recognized as one of the outstanding alumni by the Mass Communications Department at Texas Tech University. Ginger lives in Dallas with her husband, Kelly, and her stepsons, Patrick and Ross.
Leadership is...
"Communicating the Mission, supporting your team with the necessary resources, and getting out of their way so they can achieve great things."
-- Ginger Hardage
2006 Christopher Simpson, Chief Executive Officer and Partner, SimpsonScarborough
Christopher Simpson, Chief Executive Officer and Partner, is a nationally recognized integrated marketing, media relations and crisis communications leader in higher education, the federal government and for profits. He founded Simpson Consulting which has evolved into SimpsonScarborough.
A former political writer for The Washington Times, Mr. Simpson covered Congress and national politics and also served as the newspaper's Capitol Hill Bureau Chief and Assistant National Editor. In the 1980s he covered stories as divergent as the 1988 presidential race, the Challenger Shuttle disaster and Congress. He later served as Press Secretary to U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond, the former senior member of Congress. In this capacity he handled media and PR in the senior senator’s office and performed similar duties on the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Armed Services committees. Mr. Simpson then worked as the senior administrator for marketing and media at three major research universities - the University of South Carolina, the University of Oregon and Indiana University.
While at South Carolina, Mr. Simpson developed and implemented one of the nation's first university system-wide integrated marketing efforts. The plan, which was very successful at increasing fundraising and boosting student applications, was aimed at restoring the image and reputation of the institution, which was tarnished by an administrative scandal that received widespread national publicity. During this time Mr. Simpson began teaching media training and crisis communications to higher education leaders throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada and Europe.
As Vice President of Public Affairs and Government Relations at Indiana University – an eight campus system of 96,000 students, 15,000 employees and a $2 billion annual budget -- Mr. Simpson built a very successful system-wide integrated marketing communications effort from 1994 to 2001. Under his leadership, the institution's image, measured by quantitative research, improved dramatically as did public and private support, alumni participation and prospective student recruiting, as measured by increased enrollment. The five-year IU integrated marketing campaign, which focused on building stronger ties to the community statewide, regionally and nationally, generated $11 million in new revenue for the system's flagship Bloomington campus. In this capacity, Mr. Simpson also was responsible for the system's branding, media relations, publications, digital communications and federal relations efforts. In addition, he spear-headed the institution’s media response to several crises that drew national headlines, including the firing of men’s basketball coach Bob Knight in 2000.
Mr. Simpson has conducted qualitative and quantitative research for a variety of institutions nationally and internationally and personally has moderated more than 200 focus groups for higher education market research. He has performed nearly a thousand one-on-one Executive Interviews to develop brand promises and key positioning statements in marketing efforts at colleges and universities nationwide and in Canada.
He also has taught enhanced media relations, media training and crisis communications to leaders of more than 1000 independent schools, colleges, universities, associations and business leaders in the United States, Mexico, Canada and Europe. Mr. Simpson is the nation’s foremost expert in media and crisis communications in higher education, and he is a frequent confidential consultant to colleges and universities experiencing crises that draw national headlines. His first book on crisis communications will be published this fall.
Mr. Simpson has a bachelor’s degree in history and psychology from Clemson University and master’s degree in journalism from the University of South Carolina.
In his spare time, infrequent though it is, Christopher
can often be found on Athena, his 38-foot C&C sailboat, which
he sails in the Chesapeake Bay and offshore in the Atlantic Ocean.
He also is an avid snow skier (he's an active member of the National
Ski Patrol), touring bicyclist, scuba diver, kayaker and fly fisherman.
Christopher once raised llamas commercially – we still haven’t
figured that one out yet, is also a master gardener and avid cook.
And often he ties business travel with personal jaunts with wife
Millie and college-age children David and Sara.
Christopher Simpson passed away on February 24,
2008 after a heroic battle with cancer. View his memorial
http://www.simpsonscarborough.com/csmemorial.html
2007 Kenneth Sternad, Vice President for Public Relations,
United Parcel Service
As Vice President of Public Relations for UPS, Ken Sternad directs
all media relations, reputation management, executive communications,
financial communications and marketing public relations activities
for the company worldwide.
A native of Norwalk, Ct., Sternad received a bachelor’s
degree in journalism and political science from Ohio Wesleyan
University and did graduate work in corporate and political communications
at Fairfield University.
After working as a daily newspaper reporter, Sternad began his
UPS career in 1977 as a Communications supervisor. He was promoted
to Public Relations manager in 1982 and to director of Media Relations
in 1985. After managing UPS package delivery operations in Baltimore,
Md. for two years, Sternad was named to head the Public Relations
department in 1990.
During Sternad’s tenure, UPS's public relations department
has grown from five U.S.-based employees to more than 50 professionals
globally. He helped lead the communications effort behind the
UPS Initial Public Offering in 1999, which at the time was the
largest IPO in the history of Wall Street. In 2003, he helped
spearhead a major re-launch of the company’s brand worldwide.
In recent years, UPS has won numerous brand and reputation awards,
including the national award for excellence in public relations
from the Arthur Page Society. Sternad was also named “brand
manager of the year” by PR News in 2004.
In keeping with UPS’s long-standing commitment to the community,
Sternad serves as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees for
the Foundation for American Communications and as an alumni representative
and chairman of the class Annual Fund for Ohio Wesleyan University.
He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Arthur Page Society
and is a member of the Public Relations Vice President’s
Forum.
Sternad resides with his wife Judy and three children in Norcross,
GA.
2008 Peter Debreceny, Vice President of Corporate Relations (retired),
Allstate
Peter Debreceny is an independent public relations consultant
specializing in corporate social responsibility and change management
communications, based in Chicago, IL. He recently retired as Vice
President of the Corporate Relations Department of Allstate Insurance
Company responsible for internal and external communications for
the Allstate Corporation and its subsidiaries, including financial
communications and production of the Annual Report and CSR Report.
Peter has had more than 30 years' experience in all aspects of
public relations and integrated communications, and has practiced
in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. Prior to being
appointed to his position at Allstate in September 1998, he held
the position of Senior Vice President, Corporate and Financial
Relations at Edelman Worldwide, Chicago.
Peter began his career as a current affairs journalist in radio
and television and since entering public relations has concentrated
on providing strategic communications advice, primarily in the
corporate and financial areas. He has been extensively involved
in external reputation management, investor and financial communications,
and crisis and issues management. He has broad integrated marketing
communications experience, in particular through a variety of
sponsorship activities in sports and the arts.
Peter has a degree in political science and public administration,
and is a two-time Silver Anvil award winner of the Public Relations
Society of America. He is co-chair of the Institute for Public
Relations, a vice president of the Arthur W. Page Society, and
chair of the Commission on Global Public Relations Research. He
is the 2008 James C. Bowling Executive-in-Residence at the University
of Kentucky, and the Vernon C. Schranz Distinguished Lecturer
in Public Relations at Ball State University. Peter is past chair
of the Communications Committee of the Insurance Information Institute
and the Communications Committee of the Executives’ Club
of Chicago, and is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago. He
is active in community affairs, having served on the Boards of
the Metropolitan Planning Council of Chicago and the Boys and
Girls Clubs of Chicago. He is currently a board member of the
Chicago Opera Theater.
Peter and his wife, Jane, reside in Wicker Park, Chicago
The Paducah native served Philip Morris Companies Inc. as senior vice president of corporate affairs and assistant to the chairman. He was a member of the company's Board of Directors from 1969 until his retirement in 1986. Following retirement, Bowling continued to serve the profession as a member of Burson-Marsteller's senior advisory board, working closely with company founder Harold Burson until 1995.