PRSA Announces the Election of
11 Outstanding Senior Practitioners
11 Outstanding Senior Practitioners
*NEW YORK, July 15, 2024 – PRSA announced today the 11 new members selected to the College of Fellows. Established in 1989, the College of Fellows includes more than 750 professionals and educators who have made a significant impact on the public relations and communications profession.
What Makes a Fellow a Fellow?
By James E. Lukaszewski ABC, Fellow IABC ‘08; APR, Fellow PRSA ‘93; BEPS Emeritus, ‘15. ©2024
This is the time of year when senior public relations practitioners are nominated for election to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) College of Fellows. As I begin my 31st year as a PRSA Fellow (I’m also an International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Accredited Fellow), it’s interesting to reflect on the experiences of all those I have coached and mentored over the years, on my way to becoming a Fellow in both organizations. Just about everyone comes to the Fellow’s process with few clues about what a Fellow actually is.
Becoming a Fellow is really all about the footprint left on our profession. There are Fellows who have worked their entire careers in a single market and have left a powerful footprint. There are Fellows who have worked in a single state and have left a significant footprint. There are Fellows who work regionally and nationally and, in the process, have left a meaningful footprint.
A “footprint” is about the quality of practice and the level of influence rather than how many projects done, clicks, or likes for whom, or where completed. This is the hardest part of becoming a Fellow. It is such a mindset shift from counting projects and activities, to really understanding personal impact, ideas, behavior and ethics that have helped others to become better practitioners, citizens, public officials, leaders, more honorable advisors, and people of professional substance.
The footprint goes beyond activities within the public relations profession. It is about the impact and influence of the nominee in their vicinity and marketplace; it’s about how nominees use their influence, experience, insights and presence to make change happen – perhaps bringing reality and sensibility, as well as reducing contention and bringing peace to contentious parties. Or, it could be the preservation of core community values and interests.
I think sometimes it’s easy to mistake proficiency or expertise for leadership, impact, or influence on others. Those who wish to analyze their careers, to assess their footprint, ultimately go through an interesting and introspective analysis of their lives and work. These are the steps I recommend: How many on this list apply to you in your life?
- Examine your life for the lessons that were shared with others. What did others learn from you?
- Reach back and make contact with those whose lives you have affected. What value came from knowing you?
- Ask those who have known, worked and benefited from your efforts, presence, and insights to answer five basic questions:
- What is/are/were the most important things, ideas, or concepts that these individuals learned from you?
- What is/are/were the most interesting things, ideas, or concepts learned or remembered?
- What is/are/were those things these individuals feel they might never have learned if you were absent from their lives. What do they know now that they didn’t know before, that mattered, because they met you, whatever the circumstance?
- What meaningful questions did you help others to confront, consider or explore that might not have happened had you not been present?How has knowing you changed people’s lives?
- How has knowing you changed people’s lives?
- Jill Spiekerman Bonham, APR, Fellow PRSA, Teaching Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota
- Missy Burchart, APR, Fellow PRSA, President & CEO, Wilbron
- Vivian T. Dávila, APR, Fellow PRSA, Public Affairs & Communications Manager, Ford Motor Company
- Karen Garnik, APR, Fellow PRSA, President & CEO, Global Vision Marketing & Communications
- Michael S. Gross, APR, Fellow PRSA, President, AKCG Public Relations Counselors
- Kevin P. Kane, APR, Fellow PRSA, Corporate Communications Special Project Manager, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield
- Eva Keiser, APR, Fellow PRSA, Principal, The Pural I
- Michelle Olson, APR, Fellow PRSA, Managing Partner, Lambert by LLYC
- Susan van Barneveld, APR, Fellow PRSA, President, Copernio
- Melissa Vela-Williamson, APR, Fellow PRSA, Founder, MVW Communications
- Candee Wolf, APR, Fellow PRSA, Founder and Principal, Wolf Olson Communications
These questions matter because once a practitioner becomes a Fellow, all of these impacts and significant impressions on others continue and intensify. It is more than an honor to be elected a Fellow. Accepting the nomination is a public recommitment to helping our profession and our professionals find ways to improve their skills, yes, but also to begin to look at their practices and their practice circumstances from larger and broader social and cultural perspectives.
Becoming a Fellow is about reinterpreting your professional metrics from an entirely different and deeper perspective. It’s about understanding what matters, what is helpful, what is sensible, and often what is powerfully simple and true. It is about professional integrity, honesty, and having a truly meaningful personal and professional life.
It’s their professional footprint that makes a Fellow, a Fellow.
Congratulations to these extraordinary professionals.
The 2024 inductees are:
The College of Fellows Class of 2024 will be inducted at a gala celebration on Monday, Oct. 14, prior to PRSA’s annual conference being held in Anaheim, Calif. this year.