October 11, 2006 –
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.
