Annual Distinguished Lecture & Awards Dinner | Archive

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Gainesville, Fla. — Ravi Agrawal, Editor in Chief of Foreign Policy magazine and host of the Global Rebootpodcast, has been named the 2021 Institute for Public Relations Distinguished Lecturer. He will speak at the 2021 IPR Annual Distinguished Lecture and Awards Dinner, IPR’s biggest fundraiser, on December 2 at Current at Chelsea Piers in New York City.

Before joining Foreign Policy, Agrawal had a long career as a TV journalist, including roles such as senior producer of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS and as the network’s South Asia bureau chief based in New Delhi. He is the author of India Connected: How the smartphone is transforming the world’s largest democracy, a book The Wall Street Journal has named among the top five books on the country. Agrawal is a regular guest commentator on BBC, NPR, CNN, and MSNBC, and frequently moderates discussions at events such as the World Economic Forum and the IMF’s annual meetings.

The 2019 event featured Mark Leibovich of the New York Times Magazine as the IPR Distinguished Lecturer. Leibovich specializes in national politics, media and profiles of public figures. He is the author of four books, the bestselling This Town and his most recent one from 2018, Big Game: The NFL in Dangerous Times. In Big Game, Leibovich went deep inside the world of the NFL, from the owners’ meeting to the draft to the sidelines of crucial games, revealing the existential fear lurking underneath an era of explosive growth.

Leibovich has previously worked for the Washington bureau of the New York Times where he covered the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, the Obama presidency and more. Before joining the New York Times, he wrote for The Washington Post and the San Jose Mercury News. He is the recipient of a National Magazine Award, and The Atlantic called him Washington’s “most important journalist.”

2019 Photo Gallery

Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the immediate past president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, was interview by IPR Trustee Leslie Gaines-Ross (Weber Shandwick) speak at the IPR Annual Distinguished Lecture & Awards Dinner on November 28 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.

Boone Isaacs served the maximum of 4 one-year terms as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, known for its annual Academy Awards.  During her 24 years as a board member, Boone Isaacs held every officer position as well as producing the Academy’s 2012 4th Annual Governors Awards.

2018 Photo Gallery

Cocktail Reception Sponsored by The University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communication

Lee Rainie, director of internet, science and technology research at Pew Research Center, has been selected as the 2017 Annual Distinguished Lecturer for the Institute for Public Relations Annual Distinguished Lecture & Awards Dinner on November 29 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. His lecture is titled, “Truth, Politics and Culture in a Hyper-Connected World.”

Under Rainie’s leadership, the Center has issued more than 500 reports based on its surveys that examine people’s online activities and the internet’s role in their lives. He also directs the Center’s new initiative on the intersection of science and society. The American Sociological Association gave Rainie its award for “excellence in the reporting on social issues” in 2014 and described his work as the “most authoritative source of reliable data on the use and impact of the internet and mobile connectivity.”

Rainie is a co-author of Networked: The New Social Operating System and five books about the future of the internet that are drawn from the Center’s research. He gives several dozen speeches a year to government officials, media leaders, scholars and students, technology executives, librarians, and nonprofit groups about the changing media ecosystem. He is also regularly interviewed by major news organizations about technology trends. Prior to launching Pew Research Center’s technology research, Rainie was managing editor of U.S. News & World Report. He is a graduate of Harvard University and has a master’s degree in political science from Long Island University.

2017 Alexander Hamilton Medal for Lifetime Achievement | Wendi Strong, Retired EVP of Corporate Comm., USAA

Wendi Strong, retired executive vice president of corporate communications at USAA, will receive the Institute for Public Relations Alexander Hamilton Medal for Lifetime Achievement. Each year the Institute for Public Relations presents its highest award to someone who has made major lifetime contributions to the practice of public relations, including effective use of research. Strong recently retired from USAA, a Fortune 200 financial services company serving more than 12 million current and former members of the military and their families. From 2000 to 2016, Strong served as executive vice president for enterprise affairs, chief communications officer and a member of the senior leadership team directing the strategy and operations of the company.

2017 Pathfinder Award Winner | Dr. Jim Macnamara

Jim Macnamara, Ph.D., Professor of Public Communication at the University of Technology Sydney and a Visiting Professor at London School of Economics and Political Science, will accept the Institute for Public Relations Pathfinder Award at the 2017 Annual Distinguished Lecture & Awards Dinner. Dr. Macnamara is internationally recognized for his cutting-edge research into measurement and evaluation as well as organizational listening through social and market research, consultation, stakeholder engagement, digital technologies and other methods.

2017 Jack Felton Medal for Lifetime Achievement | Dr. Don Stacks

Don W. Stacks, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Strategic Communication at the University of Miami. Dr. Stacks has authored and coauthored numerous books on communication topics, to include the Primer of Public Relations Research, and he has received the National Communication Association’s PRIDE award. He edited and co-edited three editions of the IPR Dictionary of Public Relations Research and Measurement. His awards include the IPR Pathfinder Award, the University of Miami Provost’s Award for Outstanding Research and Theory, the PRSA Outstanding Educator of the Year Award, the University of Miami Outstanding Professor Award, and the PRSA Jackson, Jackson & Wagner Behavioral Science Prize.

Take a look at the 2017 Photo Gallery

Geoff Colvin, Senior Editor-at-Large of Fortune magazine, delivered the Institute for Public Relations 55^th Distinguished Lecture on November 30 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. Colvin has authored several books including his most recent, “Humans are Underrated: What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will.” His award-winning, international best-selling book, “Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else” received the Harold A. Longman Award for Best Business Book of the Year.

Colvin is an award-winning thinker, author, broadcaster, and speaker on the most significant trends and issues impacting business and the economy. He can be heard daily on the CBS Radio Network, where he has made over 10,000 broadcasts and reaches seven million listeners each week. He has appeared on Today, The O’Reilly Factor, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, ABC’s World News, CNN, CNBC, PBS’s Nightly Business Report, and dozens of other programs. His “On Leadership” series, which appears online on CNN Money, provides a compelling look at what top leaders are doing to navigate uncertain times.

Celebrating its 60^th anniversary, the Institute for Public Relations hosts the Distinguished Lecture & Awards Dinner annually, a tradition and an honor that dates back to 1961 to help raise money for research that matters to the profession. Past speakers have included Sir Martin Sorrell (chairman of WPP), Harold Burson (founder of Burson-Marsteller), Dana Perino (former White House Press Secretary, now Fox News), Neal Shapiro (President of WNET, former President of NBC News), and Beth Comstock (General Electric).

Download PDF Presenation: “The Modern Newsroom: How Research and Data Insights Have Shaped the Rise of Business Insider”

Richard Dobbs, Director of the McKinsey Global Institute (McKinsey’s business and economics research arm), delivered the 53rd Distinguished Lecture, “Prevailing Business Drivers: Digitization, Urbanization, Easternization.” Dobbs is also a director of McKinsey & Company. From 2004 to 2009, he co-led McKinsey’s Corporate Finance Practice and was also responsible for research and development. He now leads research on global economic trends with a focus on Asia. Other research has focused on performance management and measurement, mergers and acquisitions, valuation, capital markets strategy and utility regulation. Dobbs won the Metal Box and Lubbock Prizes at Oxford University. He was a Fulbright scholar at Stanford Business School, where he graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar and won the Alexander A. Robichek Student Achievement Award in Finance.

Dobbs’ article Management Intuition for the Next 50  Years is now available.

Dobbs’ latest book “No Ordinary Disruption: The Four Global Forces Breaking All the Trends,” is now available for pre-order before its release in May 2015.

Ray Kotcher, Chairman & Senior Partner, Ketchum, received the Alexander Hamilton Medal for lifetime contribution to the public relations profession. During his 30-year career at Ketchum, Kotcher guided the expansion of the firm’s global footprint. He led one of the largest mergers in the PR industry when Ketchum combined operations with Pleon, Europe’s largest strategic communications consultancy, in 2009. He increased the firm’s reach with major investments in the Middle East, Russia, China and India. Kotcher is a past trustee of the Institute for Public Relations and former chair of the Council of Public Relations Firms. He now serves on the executive committee and board of the Arthur W. Page Society and is a trustee of the PRSA Foundation.

Kotcher’s speech is PR at the Speed of Light: Transformation, Opportunity, Responsibility is now available.

November 21, 2013 – Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Chief Communications Officer Kate James, who will be joining Pearson in 2014, spoke about “The Business of Changing the World” at the 52nd Annual Distinguished Lecture & Awards Dinner at the Yale Club of New York City.

James runs the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s global communications efforts to raise awareness and drive public engagement around global poverty, health and education. Prior to this role, she served as Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Communication for Citibank. Her career has included leadership roles at Standard Chartered Bank and GlaxoSmithKline, where she worked in areas of communications, international government relations, strategy, and sustainability.

PDF: The Business of Changing the World

November 8, 2012 – Mark Penn, Microsoft, and Dana Perino, Fox News, teamed up to deliver the first-ever team lecture at the IPR Annual Distinguished Lecture and Awards Dinner.

Mark Penn, President Clinton’s White House pollster for six years and a key adviser in his 1996 reelection and Dana Perino, former Deputy Press Secretary to George W. Bush, discussed the results of the 2012 U.S. Presidential election.

Videos of the Lecture area available below.

Introducing Communications Lessons of the 2012 Campaign

Humility and Forgiveness in Politics

Let’s go to the Video – Four Lessons

Wrong Track but Improving

No Off-the-record Speeches or No-show Debates

Stunning and Unprecedented Moments

Did SuperPACs Matter?

November 10, 2011 – Richard Edelman, President & CEO of Edelman, the world’s largest independent public relations firm, delivered the Institute’s 50th Distinguished Lecture.

Edelman has extensive experience in marketing and reputation and has counseled Egypt, Israel and Mexico on economic development. Edelman’s research on NGOs, business, government and media in the Edelman Trust Barometer has been cited by publications such as The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Edelman’s blog, 6 A.M., which launched in September 2004, receives more than 2,000 visitors a day.

Edelman serves on the Board of Directors of the Ad Council, the Atlantic Council, the Children’s Aid Society and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum, the Arthur Page Society and PR Seminar.

PDF: Reimagining Our Profession, Public Relations for a Complex World
Richard Edelman
President & CEO, Edelman
November 10, 2011

November 11, 2010 – Bill Margaritis, Senior Vice President, Global Communications and Investor Relations of FedEx Corporation, delivered the 50th Institute for Public Relations Distinguished Lecture in New York City.

Robert Grupp, IPR President and CEO (right), and Matt Gonring, Co-Chair of the IPR Board of Trustees (center), congratulate Bill Margaritis of FedEx Corporation, who delivered the IPR 2010 Distinguished Lecture.

Download PDF: Truth, Trust and Reputational Intelligence

Jon Iwata, Senior Vice President at IBM, delivered the Institute for Public Relations 2009 Distinguished Lecture to an audience of 300 leaders in public relations and corporate communications gathered in New York City.  Institute Co-chair Mike Fernandez introduced Iwata, calling him “an innovator, a thought leader, and very humble and stand up guy. In today’s world, Jon is the standard; and we are very proud and pleased to have Jon deliver this year’s lecture, and to hear his vision of how we might all not only sustain, but advance our profession while messages and markets are moving at warp speed.”

Jon Iwata Senior VP, IBM

Al Golin Chairman, GolinHarris

The Institute presented its Alexander Hamilton Medal for lifetime achievement in public relations to Al Golin, Chairman of Chicago-based GolinHarris. The medal is named in recognition of the strategies that Alexander Hamilton used to gain the acceptance and adoption of the U.S. Constitution. Scholars have called Hamilton’s techniques “the finest use of public relations in history.”

“In this spirit, the Alexander Hamilton Medal honors our colleague, Al Golin, whose lifetime achievements demonstrate the power of the effective use of public relations,” said Institute Co-chair Matt Gonring. “Al has been a friend and mentor – and importantly – he has set a standard of excellence in our business that many of us live by.”

Keith Burton, an Institute Trustee and President of Insidedge, introduced Golin.

Download PDF: Toward a New Profession: Brand, Constituency and Eminence on the Global Commons

November 5, 2008 –
The Yale Club
New York, NY

Download: Public Relations: The Story Behind a Remarkable Renaissance

Sir Martin Sorrell founded WPP in 1985 and has been chief executive throughout its history. During that period, WPP has grown rapidly to become one of the world’s leading communications services groups.

WPP companies offer a wide range of services to national, multinational and global clients. These include advertising, media investment management, information, insight and consultancy, public relations and public affairs, branding and identity, healthcare communications, direct, digital, promotion and relationship marketing, and specialist communications. The worldwide group operates in 106 countries.

Before founding WPP, Sir Martin held a number of senior positions. From 1977 to 1984, he was group finance director of the advertising agency group Saatchi & Saatchi, and instrumental in planning and implementing its international expansion. He worked as a business and financial adviser to British food retail entrepreneur James Gulliver at Argyll, and managed the commercial and financial affairs of sports personalities and celebrities with the Mark McCormack Organisation in London. Sir Martin began his career as a marketing associate with Glendinning & Associates of Westport, Connecticut.

Sir Martin is an economics graduate of Cambridge University with an MBA from Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration. In 2001 he received an honorary doctorate in business administration from London Guildhall University. In 1998, Sir Martin was appointed to the Board of Dean’s Advisers of Harvard Business School and to the board of the Indian School of Business. He is a governor of London Business School, a memb

er of the advisory board of IESE in Spain and also on the Dean’s Advisory Council for Boston University School of Management, and Deputy Chairman, London Business School.

In 1997, Sir Martin was appointed as an Ambassador for British Business by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. He is a trustee of the Conference Board, the New York based business organization. In 2006 he was appointed non-executive director of Formula 1. In 2007 he was awarded the Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award.

Martin Sorrell was knighted in the Millennium New Year Honours list.

November 8, 2007 –
The Yale Club
New York, NY

Beth Comstock, president, NBC Universal Integrated Media, oversees television ad sales and leads the Digital Media team, driving the company’s digital strategy, business, content, and distribution efforts. In addition, she also leads both the marketing and research teams and is focused on deepening connections with consumers.

Prior, Comstock served as General Electric’s chief marketing officer. In that role, she oversaw marketing and sales development and was responsible for cross-business growth programs, including GE’s ecomagination environmental effort and the Imagination Breakthrough innovation initiative. Comstock also led GE’s integrated communications, including the successful “imagination at work” brand campaign.

Comstock has been a GE company officer since 1998, when she was named GE’s vice president of Corporate Communications. Previously, she served as senior vice president of Communications at NBC, and as vice president of NBC News Communications. She held a succession of publicity positions at CBS Entertainment, Turner Broadcasting, and NBC. She began her career in television in Virginia.

Comstock is a graduate of the College of William and Mary.

November 9, 2006 –
The Yale Club
New York, NY

This year’s Distinguished Lecture is Jim Grunig, professor emeritus of communication at the University of Maryland, where he served on the faculty beginning in 1969 after earning his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin. Widely recognized as one of the world’s leading public relations scholars and theorists, he has edited, authored or co-authored five books and more than 200 book chapters, journal articles, reports and papers.

In the 1980s, Dr. Grunig directed the IABC Research Foundation’s Excellence project, universally regarded as the most significant original research ever conducted in the public relations field.

Jim was a founding and long-time member of the Institute’s prestigious Commission on Public Relations Measurement and Evaluation. Some of his most cogent recent papers, reminding us that public relations at its heart is about public relationships, have been written for this Commission.

Marilyn Laurie, recipient of this year’s Alexander Hamilton Medal for lifetime achievement in public relations, is president of Laurie Consulting and retired executive vice president-brand strategy and marketing communications for AT&T. She was a co-founder of Earth Day, which launched the environmental movement in America. She was inducted into the Arthur W. Page Society Hall of Fame in 2002, previously served as president of that organization and chairman of the Public Relations Seminar.

Download PDF: After 50 Years: The Value and Values of Public Relations

October 11, 2005 –
Reform Club
London, UK

Willard D. “Bill” Nielsen is past chairman of the Institute for Public Relations. He retired in 2004 as corporate vice president-public affairs and corporate communications for Johnson & Johnson.

Nielsen joined Johnson & Johnson in 1988, following an 18-year career as a public relations agency consultant, first with Carl Byoir & Associates and then Hill and Knowlton. His professional accomplishments include leadership of a 10-year, nationwide child injury prevention campaign that reduced the rate of unintended injury and death by nearly 30 percent. He served two terms as president of the Arthur W. Page Society and was inducted into that organization’s Hall of Fame in September 2003. He was also Chairman of The Public Relations Seminar. He served on the Board and the Executive Committee of the Global Public Affairs Institute. Four PRSA Silver Anvils have been awarded to programs he either managed or supervised. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Josephson Institute of Ethics and a Trustee of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. He also served on the Board of the Foundation of Children’s Hospital, National Medical Center, Washington, D.C. for eight years.

November 10, 2004 –

Union League Club
New York, NY

Named CEO of Fleishman-Hillard in March 1974, Mr. Graham’s career has been extraordinary for more than his ability to hold a job in a famously fluid industry. He also has led the firm’s remarkable growth from a single office with a couple dozen employees to a worldwide powerhouse with more than 2,000 professionals in 22 countries. So what has he learned that the rest of us should know about our own professional culture and the science beneath the art of public relations?

Sponsored in part by:

Download PDF: Thirty Years in the Same Job, and What Do I Know?

November 20, 2003 –

Union League Club
New York, NY

A veteran for over 40 years in the public relations industry, Al Golin is founder and chairman of Chicago-based Golin/Harris International.

In addition to handling the McDonald’s account for over 40 years, Golin/Harris represents such companies as Bayer Aspirin, DaimlerChrysler Corporation, The Walt Disney Co., Florida Department of Citrus, Gerber Products Company, Kellogg’s, Levi Strauss & Co., Lowe’s Companies, National Peanut Board, Nintendo of America, Owens Corning, Pharmacia Corp., Pfizer, Ralston Purina, Sprint, Texas Instruments, Toyota Motor Sales of America, Visa USA, and Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.

As a consultant to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Al’s work centered on a major public relations awareness program for U.S. companies on the benefits of exporting to help our economy, increase employment, and reduce the balance of trade deficit.

Al is a member of the board of trustees of The Goodman Theatre of Chicago and Roosevelt University, a founding board member of Ronald McDonald House Charities, and is public relations advisor to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

He is also a member of the Public Relations Seminar, the Arthur Page Society and the Public Relations Society of America. He has lectured at Princeton University, Dartmouth College, Yale University, Northwestern University and New York University. Al received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Public Relations Society of America and Inside PR magazine. Golin was named one of the 100 most influential public relations people of the twentieth century by the industry trade magazine PR Week.

Download PDF: Trust or Consequences

November 7, 2002 –

Union League Club
New York, NY

David Drobis is a legend in public relations, having spent much of his professional career advancing the industry. He was named among the top 10 most influential people in public relations in the 20th century by PRWeek and received the National Public Relations Professional Achievement Award for 2001 from Ball State University.

Drobis spent his career at Ketchum helping it grow from a small, specialized firm into one of the top agencies in the world. He was president and chief operating officer at Ketchum from 1982 until 1994. From 1994 until 2001, he was CEO and responsible for opening Ketchum’s offices in Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin America, and establishing the vertical industry categories and key communication disciplines into five global practices:brand marketing, corporate, foodand nutrition, healthcare and technology.

Drobis is former Chair of the Institute for Public Relations and a long-time Board member. He is accredited by the Public Relations Society of America, a past board member of PRSA’s Counselors Academy, a member of its International Committee and College of Fellows, and past president of the New York Chapter of PRSA. Drobis is also a past president of The Arthur W. Page Society, founding chairman and a member of the Board of the Council of Public Relations Firms, a member of the International Public Relations Association, and a past president of ICCO, the international trade association for public relations firms.

Drobis holds a master’s degree in journalism and public relations from American University and has attended graduate programs at the Harvard Business School and the Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.

Download PDF: The Ostrich and the Giraffe – Is It Time to Stick Our Necks Out?

November 15, 2001 –

University Club
New York, NY

Bill Novelli is executive director and CEO of AARP, a membership organization of over 35 million people age 50 and older. He joined AARP in January 2000 as Associate Executive Director, Public Affairs.

Earlier, Mr. Novelli co-founded and was president of Porter Novelli, now one of the world’s largest public relations agencies and part of the Omnicom Group, an international marketing communications corporation. He directed numerous corporate accounts as well as the management and development of the firm. Porter Novelli was founded to apply marketing to social and health issues, and grew into an international marketing/public relations agency with corporate, not-for-profit and government clients. He retired from the firm in 1990 to pursue a second career in public service. He was named one of the 100 most influential public relations professionals of the 20th century by the industry’s leading publication.

He holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. from Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication, and pursued doctoral studies at New York University. He taught marketing management for 10 years in the University of Maryland’s MBA program and also taught health communications there. He has lectured at many other institutions. He has written numerous articles and chapters on marketing management, marketing communications and social marketing in journals, periodicals and textbooks.

Mr. Novelli serves on a number of boards and advisory committees. He and his wife, Fran, reside in Bethesda, Maryland. They have three adult children and three grandchildren.

Download PDF: The End of Retirement

November 15, 2000 –

Grand Hyatt
New York, NY

Bill McInturff is a partner and co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies, a national political and public affairs survey research firm established in 1991. Public Opinion Strategies is one of the country’s largest political polling firms and currently represents eight U.S. Senators, seven governors, and more than 40 Members of Congress.

Since 1991, the focus of much of his work has been health care reform, having completed more than 70 focus groups and more than 25 national studies. Bill’s health care clients include the Health Leadership Council, the American Hospital Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, and the Federation of American Health Systems. Bill has also worked to help defeat various California health care propositions, including Propositions 214 and 216 in 1996 (labor union sponsored HMO reforms) and Proposition 186 in 1994 (the California single-payer initiative). His primary health care client is the Health Insurance Association of America. His work on their behalf has included conducting message and advertising testing for their series of “Harry and Louise” television commercials, called by Advertising Age “among the best conceived and executed public affairs advertising programs in history.”

November 11, 1999 –

Union League Club
New York, NY

From 1993 to 2001 Shapiro was executive producer of “Dateline NBC”. He is responsible for expanding the newsmagazine’s programming from one night per week to five.

Shapiro began his television news career at ABC in 1980. He is married to JuJu Chang, a correspondent for ABC’s “20/20.”

Download PDF: The Future of Newsmagazine Journalism

December 2, 1998 –

Union League Club
New York, NY

Chester Burger spent most of his 48-year working career in the communications field, establishing many firsts. After he retired in 1988 from Chester Burger & Co., Inc., he became counsel to James E. Arnold Consultants, Inc., the successor firm.

Chester Burger & Co., Inc. was the nation’s first communications management consulting firm.

Burger joined the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1941 as a Page Boy, and left in 1955 as National Manager of CBS Television News. During World War II, he served with the U. S. Army Air Force. After V-J Day, the Army assigned him to experiment with newly–developed television. He produced the Army’s first broadcasts.

Burger currently serves as an advisor to the Secretary of the Air Force Office of Public Affairs and as an Expert Advisor to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

PDF: A Discussion of Truth and Credibility in an Era of Disbelief

October 9, 1997 –

The University Club
New York, NY

More than 50 years after joining CBS News, Don Hewitt continues to influence television journalism, much as he did when he helped develop many of its methods for reporting news, beginning in 1948.

His pioneering work in producing and directing many of the broadcasts of the world’s major news events during television’s infancy provided a blueprint that news producers still rely on today.

But Hewitt is best known and most respected for another innovation, 60 Minutes, the groundbreaking news broadcast he created in 1968 that is the most successful broadcast in television history.

PDF: Is Broadcast Journalism A Lost Art?

October 9, 1996 –

Union League Club
New York, NY

After years of meetings about proxy fights and business takeovers at one of the nation’s largest public relations firms, Hill & Knowlton, Richard E. Cheney opted for a new career. Cheney resigned from his position as chairman of the firm in 1993 and the next year opened a private psychoanalysis practice in the state of New York.

PDF: How I Went From the Corporate War Room to a Seat Behind the Analyst’s Couch

November 7, 1995 –

Union League Club
New York, NY

David Finn has had an outstanding career spanning more than forty years as a key executive in the field of public relations and is a widely published author on business and society. As founder and CEO of Ruder-Finn, Inc., one of the largest independent public relations firms in the world, he has been a leader in exploring the ethical and philosophical dimensions of public relations as well as creating innovative approaches that have enhanced its effectiveness and broadened its contributions.

Mr. Finn has been an advisor to the World Bank and has been involved in programs for the White House and the Federal Reserve Board. He writes a periodic column for the Roll Call, the newspaper of Congress. Articles by him have been published in Fortune, Harpers, the Saturday Review, the Harvard Business Review, and Reader’s Digest. He is also the author of “Public Relations and Management” and “The Corporate Oligarch.”

Mr. Finn is Chairman of the Board for Cedar Crest College, a member of the board of directors of the Institute for the Future; the American Academy of Poets; the Institute of Applied Economics; the American Forum for Global Education; the New York Center for Visual History; the New Hope Foundation; the Printmaking Workshop; and MUSE Film and Television. He is also an accomplished photographer of sculpture, a painter and a writer on art, with over 50 books to his credit.

PDF: Ethical Dilemmas in Communications

November 16, 1994 –

Union League Club
New York, NY

Ian Morrison is an internationally-known futurist and the author of The Second Curve: Managing the Velocity of Change and Health Care in the New Millenium. He is currently the president of the Institute for the Future and is a highly respected consultant and speaker. Morrison specializes in long-term forecasting and planning with particular emphasis on health care and societal change. He has worked with more than 100 Fortune 500 companies in the fields of health care, information technology, and financial services and has written, lectured, and consulted on a wide variety of forecasting, strategy, and health care topics for government, industry, hospitals, physicians, and nonprofit agencies.

Morrison earned an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in urban studies from the University of British Columbia, an MA in geography from the University of Edinburgh and has earned a graduate degree in urban planning from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Interim Services.

October 13, 1993 –

Union League Club
New York, NY

Everett Ladd is executive director and president of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, a private, nonprofit research facility that has been affiliated with the University of Connecticut since 1977. He is also director of the Institute for Social Inquiry at the University of Connecticut.

Along with his position at Connecticut, Ladd is an adjunct scholar of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in Washington. Since the fall of 1987, he has been a columnist for The Christian Science Monitor. He serves as a member of the editorial boards of four magazines, was for a decade senior editor of Public Opinion, is currently senior editor of The American Enterprise, is editor of the Roper Center’s magazine, The Public Perspective, and is editorial advisor in the social sciences to W.W. Norton.

A political scientist whose doctorate is from Cornell University, Ladd’s principal research interests are in American political thought, public opinion and political parties. Among his ten books are: American Political Parties; Ideology in America; Transformations of the American Political Party System; and Where Have All The Voters Gone?

Married to Cynthia Louise Northway, Ladd is the father of four children.

PDF: Change and Continuity in American Values in the Nineties

October 1, 1992 –

Union League Club
New York City

Dr. Wirthlin is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of The Wirthlin Group, a strategic opinion research firm he founded in 1969. His professional expertise includes marketing, political and public affairs research, and communications strategy and assessment. He is a leading innovator in the field of social science research and one of this country’s most respected political and business strategists.

Dr. Wirthlin is perhaps best known as President Reagan’s strategist and pollster. At the White House, as an adviser to the President, Dr. Wirthlin directed all of the President’s opinion surveys, analyzed trends, and played a key role in communications planning.

He was chief strategist for two of the most sweeping presidential victories in U.S. history. In 1981he was acclaimed Adman of the Year by Advertising Age for his role in the 1980campaign.

After earning his doctorate at the University of California at Berkeley, he taught economics and statistics at Berkeley, the University of California Medical School and Brigham Young University.

Dr. Wirthlin, his wife Jeralie and the youngest of their eight children live in McLean, Virginia.

PDF: The Imperatives of Leadership and Values: Research Guides for Presidential and Corporate Campaigns

October 1, 1991 –

Union League Club
New York, NY

In May 1989, James E. Burke became chairman of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and made it his first order of business to set a goal of securing the equivalent of $1 million per day in media time and space for anti-drug advertising.

Mr. Burke is the former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Johnson & Johnson. Under his leadership, Johnson & Johnson’s worldwide sales grew for $2.5 billion to $9 billion.

Mr. Burke joined Johnson & Johnson as a product director in 1953 and became president of the corporation in 1973. He was named chairman and chief executive officer in 1976.

Mr. Burke serves on the boards of directors of the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), The Prudential Insurance Company and the Washington Post Company. Mr. Burke is also a member of the board of directors of the Council of Foreign Relations and is chairman of the board of the Business Enterprise Trust.

A native of Rutland, Virginia, Mr. Burke was born on February 28, 1925. He graduated from Holy Cross College and earned an MBA degree from Harvard Business School.

October 2, 1990 –

Union League Club
New York, NY

Founder, chairman and, for 35 years (until 1988), chief executive officer of Burson-Marsteller, Harold Burson has guided his company from a small communications services firm to a major worldwide counseling and communications organization.

Throughout his career, Mr. Burson has contributed to the public relations industry and worldwide community as a member and leader of several organizations. Among them: Presidential appointee, the Fine Arts Commission, Washington, DC; founder of the Corporate Fund of Kennedy Center; chairman of the joint Council on Economic Education; trustee of The Economics Club of New York; and trustee of The Institute (formerly Foundation) for Public Relations Research and Education.

Mr. Burson has received numerous honors and awards, including The Gold Anvil Award from the Public Relations Society of America, 1980; Horatio Alger Award, 1986; and the Arthur Page Award, University of Texas, School of Communications, also 1986. He was named “Public Relations Professional of the Year” by Public Relations News in 1977 and again in 1989. He was awarded on honorary degree from Boston University.

PDF: Beyond “PR”: Redefining the Role of Public Relations

October 22, 1989 –

Loew’s Anatole Hotel
Dallas, Texas

Rep. Schneider, the five-term Congresswoman from Rhode Island (2nd District), has been at the forefront of national efforts to bolster American competitiveness and preserve the environment. She co-chairs the Congressional Competitiveness Caucus, which she co-founded in 1987. The Caucus’ objective is to provide realistic solutions to national problems in areas of trade policy, human resources, technology, and capital formation.

In 1988, Rep. Schneider introduced The Global Warming Act (HR 1078), which establishes a least-cost energy planning program for reducing global greenhouse gases while reducing energy costs. She began her career in 1970 with Concern, Inc., a national environmental and educational public interest firm. She founded and served as executive director of the Conservation Law Foundation.

November 13, 1988 –

Hyatt Regency Hotel
Cincinnati, Ohio

Mr. Forrestal is a well-known public relations counselor and author of several books on the field. He is a former journalist with the St. Louis -Globe Democrat and a former corporate public relations executive with Monsanto Company.

Mr. Forrestal was president of PRSA in 1957 and chairman of the Public Relations Seminar Committee in 1967. In 1974, he was the recipient of PRSA’s highest honor, the Gold Anvil Award.

PDF: An Old Timer Surveys the Public Relations Scene

November 8, 1987 –

Bonaventure Hotel
Los Angeles, California

Edward M. Block was senior vice president in charge of public relations, advertising and employee communication at AT&T for 12 years until his retirement in 1986. He also held the additional post of assistant to the chairman of the board and was the founding chairman of the AT&T Foundation. He was also a director of three of AT&T’s principal subsidiaries.

During his career at AT&T, he was a director of the NCR Corporation and Electronic Associates, Inc., a New Jersey based maker of simulation computers. He was also president of the American Council for the Arts and was a founding director of the National Arts Stabilization Fund, a spin off of the Ford Foundation. He served briefly in the White House in the early days of the Ford Administration.

Mr. Block began his career in public relations in 1952 with the Southwestern Bell Corporation in St. Louis. Subsequently, he moved through a series of managerial positions within the old Bell Telephone System. He was elected to the top job at the AT&T corporate headquarters in New York City in 1972. His achievements in public relations have been generously acknowledged. In 1980 he was chosen public relations professional of the year by PR News.

Source: Arthur W. Page Society

PDF: Strategic Communications: Practicing What We Preach

November 9, 1986 –

Washington Sheraton Hotel
Washington, DC

Carl Sloane is the CEO of Temple, Barker & Sloane, Inc., the management consulting firm. An advisor to industrial and commercial corporations in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia, Carl Sloane has focused his consulting activities in the areas of corporate strategic development and organizational effectiveness. He also has served as an advisor to the White House, other arms of government, and industry groups on issues involving business-government relations and policy formulation. During the period 1964 to 1968 he served as managing director of the European division of an international consulting firm and advised corporations such as Ciba-Geigy, ITT and Volkswagen.

Professor Sloane is an honors graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School. He resides with his wife Toby in Marblehead, Massachusetts. They have three married children and five grandchildren.

PDF: The Social, Economic and Political Context for the Practice of Public Relations

November 10, 1985 –

Westin Hotel
Detroit, Michigan

Dr. Thayer’s background includes considerable industrial and managerial experience, coupled with extensive education in engineering, the social and behavioral sciences, and the humanities. He has taught or lectured in major universities both here and abroad, and is known worldwide for his work in areas which cut across several traditional disciplines — organizational psychology and communication, managerial development and competence, and organizational management and performance.

Dr. Thayer has served as consultant to several federal agencies, including the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Civil Service, and to major corporations, including IBM, AT&T, Bendix, and Boeing.

He is a long-time biographer of major directories, including Who’s Who and American Men and Women of Science.

PDF: Thinking Leadership: Perspective and Counsel for Public Relations Practitioners

October 14, 1984 –

The Denver Hilton
Denver, CO

Andrew B. Gollner is an author, researcher and educator in the field of public relations and public affairs. Gollner is an associate professor of Public Policy and Administration at Concordia University in Montreal. He is also the author of Social Change and Corporate Strategy: The Expanding Role of Public Affairs, which explains the rapid emergence of public relations and public affairs as a powerful force in the management of interdependent relationships between business, industry and government.

PDF: Public Relations/Public Affairs in the New Managerial Revolution: Ascendancy, Growth, Responsibility

November 23, 1983 –

New York Hilton
New York, NY

Robert L. Fegley recently retired after 41 years in public relations and advertising positions with the General Electric Company. At the time of his retirement he was Staff Executive-Chief Executive Officer Communications at the company’s headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut. In this capacity he counseled the Chairman of the Board, Reginald H. Jones, in the planning and performance of his public affairs activities.

In 1979, Business Week cited Mr. Fegley as one of the top ten corporate public relations men in the country, and the subscribers of Public Relations News voted him Public Relations Professional of the Year. In 1981, he received the Public Relations Man of the Year Award of the University of Texas. He is listed in Who’s Who in the World.

PDF: Public Relations and the Very Human Art of Management

November 7, 1982 –

The San Francisco Hilton Tower
San Francisco, CA

Betsy Ann Plank joined the Bell System in 1973 as director of public relations planning for AT&T. Ms. Plank came to Illinois Bell in 1974. Prior to joining the Bell System, she was executive vice president of Daniel J. Edelman, Inc., international public relations agency.

Ms. Plank was the first woman to serve as president of the Public Relations Society of America (1973). In 1977, she received PRSA’s Gold Anvil Award as the outstanding public relations professional, and in 1978 readers of Public Relations News named her Professional of the Year. She chaired the U. S. Section of the International Public Relations Association in 1980-81.

Ms. Plank is the national advisor to the Public Relations Student Society of America; the student organization’s Northern Illinois University chapter is named for her. Currently, she chairs PRSA’s national committee on educational affairs. Named in Who’s Who in America, Ms. Plank was a trustee of the Foundation for Public Relations Research and Education and chaired The Chicago Network, the city’s 100 leading women. Presently, she is a member of the board of directors of the Girl Scouts U.S.A., vice president of the Illinois Council on Economic Education, and serves on the advisory boards of three publications–Illinois Issues, Public Relations News and Public Relations Review.

PDF: The Revolution in Communications Technology-Implications for the Public Relations Profession

November 8, 1981 –

The Palmer House
Chicago, Illinois

Kerryn King is a past president of the Public Relations Society of America. He will speak on the progress and challenges to date in the profession’s efforts to include public relations as part of graduate business school curricula.

Mr. King joined Texaco in 1953 as director of public relations and in 1972 was named senior vice president-public affairs. In 1981, he was appointed to assist the company’s chairman and chief executive officer in executive development and external relations.

Prior to joining Texaco, he was for 10 years associated with the international public relations firm of Hill and Knowlton. Mr. King is a former director of the American Petroleum Institute. At present he is chairman of the Civilian Public Relations Advisory Committee to the United States Military Academy at West Point and a director of the Allergy Foundation of America. He is also an advisory director of the Metropolitan Opera Association, a board member of Public Relations News and a trustee and member of the executive committee of the Foundation for Public Relations Research and Education.

PDF: Public Relations and Business Schools: Are They Properly Training Tomorrow’s Business Executives?

November 19, 1980 –

Atlanta, Georgia

Scott Jones of Chicago is a past president of the board of trustees of the Foundation for Public Relations Research & Education.

An Accredited Member of the Public Relations Society of America and the recipient of three PRSA citations for meritorious service, Mr. Jones is a past president of the Society’s Chicago Chapter. For the national organization, he has served as secretary, eligibility committee chairman and member of the executive and long range planning committees. In 1963 he was chairman of the Society’s Counselors Section. He also helped work out standards and ethics of financial public relations practice with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

During World War II, Mr. Jones served as a war correspondent, editor and writer for the Information and Education Division of the U.S. Army, both in Washington and at headquarters, European Theater of Operations Overseas.

Mr. Jones was co-founder of Gardner Jones and Company which became part of Hill and Knowlton, Inc., in 1978. He has served as elected village trustee of Hinsdale, Illinois, member of the public relations advisory committees of the Crusade of Mercy and the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, and director of the Community Renewal Society of Chicago and United Charities of Chicago. He is a member of the International Public Relations Association.

PDF: The Individual Pursuit of Professional Excellence

November 11, 1979 –

St. Louis, Missouri

Scott Cutlip introduced the study of public relations at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He spent 29 years on the school’s faculty.

Cutlip then came to the University of Georgia’s Henry W. Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 1975 where he is serving as dean.

Along with Allen H. Center, Cutlip co-authored one of the best-selling textbooks in the field of public relations, Effective Public Relations.

According to PRWeek, Cutlip is credited with giving public relations education its legitimacy through research and scholarship. He is listed in the publication’s top 10 most influential leaders in public relations in the 20th century.

PDF: Public Relations and Society

November 12, 1978 –

The Fairmont Hotel
New Orleans, Louisiana

George Hammond has been in the public relations field virtually since its emergence as a profession more than four decades ago.

A native New Yorker, Hammond won a Pulitzer Prize Scholarship to Columbia University and graduated in 1928.

He was a columnist and reporter on the New York Sun when he joined Carl Byoir in 1932, two years after the public relations pioneer established his firm. Mr. Hammond has been with Carl Byoir ever since.

He was elected to vice president of Carl Byoir & Associates in 1941, executive vice president in 1946, president in 1956 and then chairman in 1965. His firm today has a staff of more than 400 persons and offices in 20 cities here and abroad.

Long active in the Public Relations Society of America, Mr. Hammond was president of PRSA in 1969.

At its 1973 Annual Conference, PRSA awarded to Mr. Hammond its top honor, the Gold Anvil.

He is a member of the International Public Relations Association and is on the board of directors of The George Junior Republic.

PDF:The Hour Strikes for Public Relations

November 13, 1977

Town & Country Hotel
San Diego, California

Mr. Center’s public relations experience began during World War II when he was called upon to establish a public relations section for the 13th Air Force Fighter Command at Guadalcanal. Following the war, he organized the public relations department for The Parker Pen Company and headed it for six years.

He joined Motorola Inc. in 1952 to form a public relations department and served as director of public relations from 1952 to 1959, when he moved to the Leo Burnett Company as vice president of public relations. He returned to Motorola as vice president of public relations in 1961 and remained until he elected “early” retirement at 60 in 1973 to write, teach and consult.

Since 1973, Mr. Center has served for two consecutive terms as president of the Foundation for Public Relations Research and Education and joined the faculty of the San Diego State University Department of Journalism as professor of public relations.

Well known as a writer on the subject of public relations, Mr. Center is co-author of “Effective Public Relations,” and author of “Public Relations Ideas in Action” and “Public Relations Practices: Case Studies.

Mr. Center is a graduate of Knox College and attended the Columbia University School of Journalism. He is a former lecturer in public relations at Northwestern University.

Recipient of the Distinguished Service Award in 1970 from the Chicago Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, Mr. Center also received the President’s Citation for Meritorious Service from PRSA National in 1974. He is listed in “Who’s Who in America,” “The Writers Directory,” the “Dictionary of International Biographies” and “Creative and Successful Personalities of the World.”

Mr. and Mrs. Center live in San Diego, California.

PDF: Public Relations: The Stubborn Opportunity

August 11, 1976 –

Sheraton Boston Hotel
Boston, Massachusetts

Tim Traverse-Healy has served as Senior Partner in Traverse-Healy Ltd. from 1947, following his service in the Royal Marines Commandos and Special Forces during the Second World War.

Tim founded the Institute of Public Relations (United Kingdom) in 1948 and was made a Fellow of the Institute in 1956. He served as its President from 1967 to 1968.

Tim also served as Vice-President of the European PR Federation from 1965 to 1969. He was President of the International PR Association from 1968 to 1973 and is a Fellow of the Institute of Advertising.

PDF: A Declaration of Interdependence

July 16, 1975 –

University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa

Mr. Weston joined Sun Oil Company in 1944 as assistant director of public relations. He was appointed director of public relations in 1965 and director of corporate public relations in 1970.

Previously, he worked as a reporter and news editor for Platt’s Oilgram and National Petroleum News, and as petroleum editor of the New York Journal of Commerce.

Mr. Weston is active in a number of professional and civic organizations. A member of the Public Relations Society of America, he is a past president of the Society’s Philadelphia chapter. He is also a member of the Committee on Public Affairs of the American Petroleum Institute and recipient of its Gold Award for outstanding contributions to the petroleum industry, public relations and public affairs programs.

He is chairman of the board of managers of the Christian Street Branch of the YMCA and member of the Greater Philadelphia-Southern New Jersey regional board of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

Mr. Weston was born in New London, Ohio in 1918 and studied at the Cleveland College of Western Reserve University. He and Mrs. Weston, who have five children, live in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

PDF: Public Relations: Trustee of the Possibility of a Free Society

July 10, 1974 –

The University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland

Mr. Hill is chairman of the executive committee of America’s largest international public relations firm, Hill and Knowlton, Inc. Born in 1890, in Shelbyville, Indiana, he attended Indiana University and later entered the field of journalism.

In 1927, Mr. Hill established in Cleveland one of the nation’s earliest companies offering public relations services to American business.

Because of Mr. Hill’s confidence in the future of international public relations, he established in 1962 a Foreign Fellowship program under which each year an outstanding young student of public relations is brought to the United States for a course in pertinent subjects at a leading American University, followed by some months of intensive training at Hill and Knowlton headquarters in New York.

Mr. Hill has received honorary degrees of Doctor of Laws from Indiana University and Doctor of Humane Letters from Boston University. He has also received a Distinguished Alumni Service Award from Indiana University. He has been awarded the “Chevalier de I’Ordre de Leopold” decoration by the Belgian Government, and has received the award of the Public Relations Society of America for distinguished service to the advancement of the public relations profession. In 1966, he was voted Public Relations Professional of the Year by the readers of Public Relations News. Mr. Hill was also a recipient of the American Academy of Achievement Award in the field of Public Relations in 1966.

He is the author of two books and numerous articles which draw upon his more than four decades of experience as a public relations counselor. The books are “The Making of a Public Relations Man” (David McKay Co., 1963) and “Corporate Public Relations” (Harper’s, 1958).

PDF: The Function of Public Relations in Helping to Restore Confidence in American Institutions

July 13, 1973 –

The University of Texas
Austin, Texas

Milton Fairman is one of our senior public relations practitioners. A native Chicagoan, he studied at Loyola University and the University of Chicago before beginning a career as reporter, feature writer and city editor on Chicago newspapers.

In 1935 Fairman joined the staff of Harold W. Ickes, who was then Secretary of the Interior and Public Works Administrator, asassistant director of information.

After two years in Washington, Fairman was engaged by Borden, Inc. to organize a regional public relations office in Columbus, Ohio. He was appointed the corporation’s director of public relations in 1943 and elected a vice president in 1963, a post he held until his retirement in 1967.

Fairman was a member of the first board of the Public Relations Seminar and the first board of the Public Relations Society of America. He served as PRSA president in 1951 and was chairman of its executive committee, a member of the first accreditation board and for two terms (1954-55 and 1968-71) editor of Public Relations Journal. He served as president of the Foundation for Public Relations Research and Education from 1961 to 1965 and is currently a Trustee.

He was the technical advisor for the Foundation’s new film, Opinion of the Publics. Nowa consultant in Stamford, Conn., Fairman has written extensively on professional public relations and is the recipient of many professional awards and honors.

PDF: The Practice of Public Relations

July 12, 1972 –

Syracuse University
Syracuse, New York

Mr. Nelson is a native of Harrison, Arkansas and attended Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

His early career included editorial work for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and for several California newspapers. In 1927, he joined Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in St. Louis where he served for 10 years in a variety of public relations and advertising positions.

In 1937, Mr. Nelson accepted a position with Illinois Bell Telephone Company. His World War II military service was in the Army, first in the Signal Corps and later in the War Department Bureau of Public Relations. He was discharged in 1945 with the rank of major, one year later becoming vice president-public relations for Illinois Bell.

Mr. Nelson was appointed vice president in charge of urban affairs at Illinois Bell Telephone Company in 1967, a year before his retirement. Prior to this appointment, he had been vice president in charge of public relations and advertising since September 1946.

Mr. Nelson was named Advertising Man of the Year by the Chicago Advertising Club in 1967 and Communications Man of the Year by the Junior Association of Commerce in 1968.

PDF: The Public Problems of Business

November 16, 1970 –

The Regency Hyatt House
Atlanta, Georgia

This tenth Foundation Lecture was presented at the Annual Conference of the Public Relations Society of America.

Dr. DeMott completed his undergraduate education at Johns Hopkins and George Washington Universities and received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1953. In addition to his present position, he has held professorships at Harvard, Yale, MIT, Utah and Birmingham (England) Universities and has lectured most recently at the Universities of Alabama, California, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New York and North Dakota as well as Vassar and Smith Colleges.

Among Dr. DeMott’s publications are the novels “The Body Cage” (1959) and “A Married Man” (1968) and a series of essays on cultural themes, “Hells & Benefits” (1963), “You Don’t Say” (1966), “Supergrow” (1969) and “Surviving the Seventies” (1971).

Dr. DeMott is a member of the PEN Club, the Author’s League, Modern Language Association and Phi Beta Kappa. He received the Harbison Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1969 and has twice been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.

PDF: Knowing Two Worlds, Thinking Two Things

November 18, 1969 –

Century Plaza Hotel
Los Angeles, California

Mr. Chase was a founding member of PRSA, the chairman of its first Executive Committee and its president in 1956. His career includes faculty status at Harvard and Drake Universities and Radcliffe College in the field of international relations; editorship of the Des Moines Register and Tribune; editorship of the Foreign Letter of the Whaley-Eaton Service; vice presidency of the American Retail Federation; founding directorships of the public relations departments of General Mills, in Minneapolis, and General Foods, in New York.

He was a partner in the then Selvage, Lee & Chase counseling firm; president of Communications Counselors, Inc., the public relations arm of McCann-Erickson; and founded his own business, Howard Chase Associates, Inc., in 1959. He organized and staffed the public relations department of Corn Products and served as founding member of the Public Relations Committee of the Grocery Manufacturers of America where he also served as consultant.

PDF: By Any Other Name

November 18, 1968 –

Palmer House Hilton Hotel
Chicago, Illinois

Dr. Pendray is an authority on industrial public relations, educational programs and management. He is also one of the country’s foremost proponents of space flight and rocket power.

Born in Nebraska, he graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1924 and the year following received an M.A. from Columbia University.

In 1936, he joined Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company (now Westinghouse Electric Corporation) as Assistant to the President, assigned to the task of developing a complete public relations program and staff for the company. During this period, he launched both the Westinghouse Engineer and News and helped develop and administer the annual Westinghouse Science Talent Search. One of Dr. Pendray’s projects which brought wide attention to Westinghouse was the original Time Capsule at the New York World’s Fair of 1939. He was responsible for its entire development, including coining the name “Time Capsule.” In 1945, he opened his own public relations firm, Pendray & Company. Westinghouse became his first client.

He became interested in rockets and space flight in the late 1920s and with Mrs. Pendray helped found the American Rocket Society which merged in 1963 with the Institute of the Aerospace Sciences to form the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In 1964, he was elected a member of the International Academy of Astronautics in recognition of his contributions to the development of space flight.

Dr. Pendray was vice president of the National Association of Public Relations Counsel which combined in 1948 with the American Council on Public Relations to form the Public Relations Society of America.

PDF: Time’s Arrow and the Fifth Estate
Dr. G. Edward Pendray
Senior Partner, Pendray & Company
November 18, 1968

November 15, 1967 –

Bellevue-Stratford Hotel
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Mr. Perry has been director of the Public Relations Department of the Du Pont Company since 1965, having joined the company in 1944 as assistant director of the department following a newspaper career in Washington and New York.

Shortly after graduation from Princeton University, Mr. Perry started newspaper work with The New York Sun in 1927. Completing a variety of assignments, including political campaigns and City Hall, he was sent to the Washington Bureau of the newspaper in 1937.

Prominent in the affairs of the Public Relations Society of America and the Manufacturing Chemists Association, Mr. Perry has been President of the Foundation for Public Relations Research and Education since 1966. He is also a member of the Commerce and Industry Council of the National Urban League; the Advisory Committee of the Center for the Advancement of Human Communication at Fairfield University; and the Civilian Public Relations Advisory Committee to the Superintendent, United States Military Academy.

Mr. Perry has written considerably on military and naval activities as well as on politics and on public relations. He collaborated with Roscoe Drummond, then head of the Washington Bureau of the Christian Science Monitor, in writing numerous articles for the Saturday Evening Post and Look magazine. In 1937 he wrote Watchmen of the Sea, a book about the Coast Guard, published by Scribner’s.

PDF: Public Relations and the Open Society

November 7, 1966 –

New York Hilton Hotel
New York, New York

Joe. B. Frantz, an historian of the American West and a close friend of Lyndon B. Johnson, presented this lecture at the national conference of the Public Relations Society of America.

Professor Frantz, the author or co-author of more than two dozen books, serves on the history faculty at the University of Texas at Austin. He won a best-book prize in 1951 from the Texas Institute of Letters for the biography “Gail Borden: Dairyman to a Nation.”

He was born in Weatherford, Texas, and was a journalism graduate of the University of Texas, where he also earned his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in history.

PDF: After the Fall-Opportunity 1918-1945

November 19, 1965 –

Americana Hotel
New York, New York

This Lecture was presented by Dr. Eric F. Goldman, Special Consultant to the President, at the national conference of the Public Relations Society of America.

Dr. Goldman has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Library of Congress Fellow and a member of the Board of Councilors of the Society of American Historians.

Dr. Goldman is the author of a number of books and was the 1952 winner of the Bancroft Prize for distinguished American history.

He was born in Washington, D.C. in 1915. He was educated at the Johns Hopkins University, where he received his Ph.D. in history in 1938. He taught at Johns Hopkins and at Princeton University, where is now Rollins Professor of History.

PDF: Public Relations and the Progressive Surge 1898-1917

November 9, 1964 –

Queen Elizabeth Hotel
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

This lecture, sponsored by the Foundation for Public Relations Research & Education (forerunner of the Institute for Public Relations) was presented at the national conference of the Public Relations Society of America.

Mr. Stanley is a noted Canadian historian and the author of many books including “The Birth of Western Canada: A History of the Riel Rebellions” and “Canada’s Soldier: The Military History of an Unmilitary People.”

PDF: The Man Who Made Canada

November 18, 1963 –

Fairmont Hotel
San Francisco, California

This third Foundation Lecture was presented at the national conference of the Public Relations Society of America.

Dr. Billington was born in Bay City, Michigan, in 1903. Reared in Detroit, he was educated at the University of Wisconsin (Ph.B., 1926), the University of Michigan (M.A., 1927) and Harvard University (Ph.D., 1933).

He taught at Clark University and Smith College before going to Northwestern University where he held the William Smith Mason chair of History from 1944-1963. In 1963, he became Senior Research Associate at the Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Dr. Billington is the author of numerous books and articles on western history, including Western Expansion: A History of the American Frontier (2nd edition, 1960); The Far Western Frontier, 1830-1860 (1956); and The Westward Movement in the United States (1959).

PDF: Words that Won the West 1830-1850

November 13, 1962 –

Statler Hilton Hotel
Boston, Massachusetts

This lecture was presented by Dr. Allan Nevins at the national conference of the Public Relations Society of America.

One of America’s leading historians, Dr. Nevins has a varied background, which includes journalism and public relations as well as a distinguished career in the research, writing and teaching of history. After a decade as an editorial writer and critic on New York City newspapers, he started teaching history at Cornell University in 1927, and moved the following year to Columbia University where he was a professor of American History until 1958.

Dr. Nevins is a prolific writer and editor in the field of history and has several score publications to his credit. He has twice been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for American biography. He has been president of the American Historical Association and has been honored by many universities and professional societies.

PDF: The Constitution Makers and the Public 1785-1790
Dr. Allan Nevins
Senior Research Associate, Henry E. Huntington Library
November 13, 1962

November 13, 1961 –

Shamrock-Hilton Hotel
Houston, Texas

The tradition of this lecture was originated to explore the historic antecedents of what is now called public relations. From these antecedents, it was hoped that principles or parallels might be drawn to instruct and inspire present-day practitioners. Dr. Frank E. Vandiver delivered this initial lecture as an address at the national conference of the Public Relations Society of America.

Dr. Vandiver has been professor of history at Rice University, Houston, since 1958, and is widely recognized for studies of the Civil War. His books on this period include: “Plowshares into Swords: Josiah Gorgas and the Confederate Ordinance” (1952); “Rebel Brass: the Confederate Command System” (1956); “Mighty Stonewall” (1957); “Fields of Glory” (with W. H. Nelson, 1958); and “Jubal’s Raid” (1960).

Born in Austin, Texas, in 1925, Dr. Vandiver graduated from the University of Texas and received his Ph.D. from Tulane University. He has been the recipient of research grants or fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, the Guggenheim Foundation and the Huntington Library. Currently, Dr. Vandiver is President of the Texas Institute of Letters, which honored him with its Carr P. Collins Award in 1957.

PDF: The First Public War 1861-1865
Dr. Frank E. Vandiver
Professor of History, Rice University
November 13, 1961