Member News

Marilyn Laurie, an award-winning communications executive for AT&T and now president of her own consulting firm, received the College of Charleston's coveted Distinguished Communicators Award on April 17. As former Executive Vice President, Brand Strategy and Public Relations, and a member of AT&T's 10-person Executive Committee, Laurie led AT&T's brand-building, advertising and corporate reputation activities worldwide. The first female senior vice president of AT&T, she headed its 500-person global communications organization and also served as chairman of the AT&T Foundation for a decade. A co-founder of Earth Day in 1970, who handled all NYC communications, she was recruited by AT&T to create its first environmental policy. Currently, she consults on PR strategy for corporations and non-profits and lectures widely on corporate social responsibility. Marilyn is a past president of the Arthur W. Page Society and a member of the Hall of Fame.

Tom Kowaleski has been appointed Vice President of Corporate Communications for BMW of North America, LLC effective May 1, 2008. Tom will have responsibility for the overall management of the Corporate Communications department. Tom is a 30 year Communications veteran in the global auto industry and has broad experience with both domestic and imported manufacturers, including Renault, Chrysler, the former DaimlerChrysler and GM, where he was the Vice President of Global Communications. For the last two years he has operated his own Communications consultancy, ACTK2, which he will continue to operate in addition to his work at BMW.

Alan Kelly, CEO of The Playmaker's Standard LLC, has recently completed teaching a course on strategy for the University of Southern California. The course was based on his research and his book, The Elements of Influence. The class is a full-credit graduate course under the sponsorship of Page member Prof. Jerry Swerling, Director of the Strategic Public Relations Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication in Los Angeles.

Ron Culp, Peter Debreceny, Nancy Hobor and Maril MacDonald participated in a panel discussion at the University of Chicago Gleacher Center on April 2 on The Authentic Enterprise white paper. With an audience of more than 35 senior communications professionals, the panel discussion also led to a lively exchange during the question and answer period.

Maril MacDonald will lead another panel discussion in New York on June 18. This time the panel will include Page members Roger Bolton, Valerie DiMaria and Harvey Greisman. The dinner program is open to all Page members and is sponsored by the Council of Public Relations Firms. Details are available here. To register, please click here.

Jon Iwata presented the Authentic Enterprise at the April 25 board meeting of PRSA in New York. According to Bill Murray, President of PRSA, the presentation was extremely well received and is stimulating a great deal of discussion among the board members. Jon was also interviewed by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson at FIR (For Immediate Release). That interview is available for podcasting here.

Don Wright, Boston College professor and Page board member, is leading a three-day leadership and communication conference in Lake Forest, Illinois on June 25-27, focused on the content and implications of the Authentic Enterprise white paper. That conference will feature several speakers from the Society. Additional information on the conference at Grainger's world headquarters can be found here.

Tom Kowaleski, vice president public relations at BMW and Aedhmar Hynes, CEO of Text 100, will jointly present the Authentic Enterprise paper in London on June 11 in conjunction with the Public Relations Consultancy Association annual meeting. The Globalization task force, led by Ken Sternad and Cathy Babington, is also coordinating a series of additional meetings this year in several other locations around the world. More details will be available shortly.

2008 Annual Conference

Registration for the Annual Conference at the Chatham Bars Inn on Cape Cod is now open. Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE, starts the conference on Sunday as our CEO speaker. We also have a great lineup of other speakers and panels. Full details are available on the Page website here.

Arthur W. Page Society Blog

We also encourage you to visit the Page Society Blog Page Turner, to engage in dialogue with fellow practitioners. The Page Society started a blog in late 2007 for members only and recently launched Page Turner which is open to everyone. We have received comments from around the globe and look forward to several conversations around important communication issues.