Gainesville, Fla. – The Institute for Public Relations is thrilled to announce the addition of four new Trustees to its Board:
- Rupen Desai, Global CMO, Dole Packaged Foods & Co-Founder, TS/28
- Jim Macnamara, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor, School of Communication, University of Technology Sydney
- Natalie Tindall, Ph.D., APR, Chair, Department of Communication and Media, Lamar University
- Su Lin Yeo, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Communication Management (Practice), Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University (SMU)
Rupen Desai
Rupen is the Global CMO at Dole Packaged Foods, a company that believes everyone should have equal access to nutrition and wellness, delivered in a positive and sustainable way. He co-founded TS/28 to partner with organizations and help them thrive in the conscience economy. He is a strong advocate of the responsibility a purposeful business and creativity have towards society, communities, and the planet, as well as shareholders.
Prior to Dole, he was Edelman’s Vice-Chairman across Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. During this time, he led Edelman’s Women’s leadership network for the region and was a board member at Female Founders, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the pursuit of gender equality in entrepreneurship and leadership.
He began his career with Mullen Lowe, where he spent two decades, leading the Asia-Pacific region for the last six years. He shares Don Quixote’s values in all he does.
Jim Macnamara, Ph.D.
Jim Macnamara, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor in the School of Communication at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He is also a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Dr. Macnamara is internationally recognized for his research into evaluation of public communication and for his pioneering studies of organizational listening within government, corporations, and NGOs. He is the author of 16 books including “Organizational Listening: The Missing Essential in Public Communication” (Peter Lang, New York, 2016); “Evaluating Public Communication” (Routledge, UK, 2018); and “Beyond Post-Communication: Challenging Disinformation, Deception, and Manipulation” (Peter Lang, New York, 2020).
His research interests include evaluation of public communication (advertising, PR, and corporate, government and political communication) and organizational listening.
He also is interested in digital and social media and does extensive research in health communication, including a current project leading evaluation of World Health Organization (WHO) communication in relation to COVID-19 and World Health Days.
Natalie Tindall, Ph.D., APR
Natalie Tindall, Ph.D., APR, teaches public relations/strategic communication classes at Lamar University, where she serves as the chair of the Department of Communication and Media and the advisor for the student-run public relations agency, Bridge Public Relations. Through her teaching and service work, she guides students through campaign planning, research, messaging, and strategy. Dr. Tindall is an active member of the Public Relations Society of America, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and several community organizations. She received her doctorate from the University of Maryland-College Park.
Dr. Tindall’s research focuses on diversity in organizations, specifically diversity with the public relations function, the situational theory of publics, and how the dimensions of intersectionality influence publics’ perceptions. She has multiple peer-reviewed journal articles that have been published in the Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Public Relations Journal, Howard Journal of Communications, PRism, and the International Journal of Strategic Communication.
Su Lin Yeo, Ph.D.
Su Lin Yeo, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Communication Management (Practice) at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University (SMU). She is also the Director for the IPR-SMU Alliance (Southeast Asia). Dr. Yeo teaches a range of full credit communication modules from undergraduate to postgraduate and executive seminar programmes. In addition to her heavy research and teaching commitments, Dr. Yeo sits on national boards as an advisor on health and public policy communication in Singapore. Prior to pursing an academic career, Dr. Yeo spent 12 years managing corporate communication and investor relations for several conglomerates in the banking and financial services sectors. She was instrumental in developing successful communication strategies and reputation enhancing initiatives that drove business outcomes for her organisations in Asia.
Her primary research interests include Corporate Reputation, Crisis Communication, and Public Policy Communication. She publishes in highly cited public relations and communication journals and has won top paper awards at leading international communication conferences.
About the Institute for Public Relations
Founded in 1956, the Institute for Public Relations is an independent, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the science beneath the art of public relations™. IPR creates, curates, and promotes research and initiatives that empower professionals with actionable insights and intelligence they can put to immediate use. IPR predicts and analyzes global factors transforming the profession, and amplifies and engages the professional globally through thought leadership and programming. All research is available free at www.instituteforpr.org and provides the basis for IPR’s professional conferences and events.
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