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In this issue:2008 Holiday Gala celebrates the future of PR 2008 Award Winners: Kay Herring, APR, Fellow PRSA wins Lifetime Achievement Award Welcome New & Returning Members Faces of the Next 50 years in PR: T.J. McMahon CWU PRSSA Chapter Promotes Ellensburg Businesses Thank you and welcome 2009 President Linda Farmer, APR Join the Puget Sound PRSA LinkedIn Group! Interested in Submitting an item for Newsflash?
2008 Holiday Gala celebrates the future of PR
Celebrating the next generation of public relations, the 2008 Holiday Gala featured a multimedia presentation honoring award winners and scholarship recipients, a modern art gallery venue-the Lawrimore Project in the International District and increased emphasis on the gala's core mission: raising funds for our two chapter scholarships, the Sally Heet Memorial Scholarship and the Horace and Sally Revels Cayton scholarship. Members mingled among the art exhibits while bidding on fabulous items in the silent auction like wines from Judy Cushman's annual wine tour, a tent from REI, a huge wine and chocolate basket from the 2008 board, sports tickets, theatre and event tickets, overnight stays at the Sorrento and Worldmark properties and many others.
Special thanks go to this year's Gala power duo, Richelle Nielsen from Bastyr and Jennifer Farrell from ALPA, who teamed up for a third year in a row to plan yet another incredible gala experience. They led a talented and dedicated team of committee members including Josh Halpin, Meli Duque, Michael Barbre, Nancy Kramer, David Campbell who developed the multimedia presentation and board liaison Amy Turner. Rumor has it the winning combination will carry on into 2009 with Meli possibly stepping up to chair the 2009 Gala Committee. Finally a big thank you to our sponsors who keep costs for the gala down so we can dedicate more of the proceeds to our scholarships:
2008 Award Winners: Kay Herring, APR, Fellow PRSA wins Lifetime Achievement Award
PRSA Puget Sound named Kay Herring the winner of our 2008 Jay Rockey Lifetime Achievement Award at the chapter's Holiday Gala on Dec. 2. Herring, an accredited public relations professional in the Puget Sound area since 1987, was recognized for her professional, community and volunteer accomplishments, especially her involvement in public relations education and mentoring in Washington state for the past 20 years. The award is named after Rockey, a pioneer in public relations in the Pacific Northwest. Herring was a founding developer and teacher of the University of Washington's Certificate Program in Public Relations and was the first professional advisor of the University's student public relations organization. During her career, she has also provided public relations counseling, training, strategic planning and implementation to many national and international firms including The Boeing Company, Weyerhaeuser, Holland America Line, Westin Hotels and Resorts, University of Phoenix and others. In addition, she has held many positions at PRSA's local, regional and national levels. Herring and her husband, Erik Peterson – who was an executive at several area public relations firms – are one of very few couples in the U.S. who are accredited in public relations (APR). Both have also been designated PRSA Fellows in the 22,000-member national organization. For the past 30 years, they have practiced public relations in California, Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and Texas. Herring joined five other PRSA Puget Sound chapter award recipients who were recognized for their contributions, including:
Special thanks to this year's Jay Rockey Lifetime Achievement Award committee chair, Terry LaBrue, and his committee of past members. Thank you also to Tara Darrow, APR, for her work on the professional awards committee, serving as board liaison and working with members of the Gala Committee to select this year's winners.
Mentors Program Kicks OffTwenty-seven public relations students from three local universities -- Central Washington University, Seattle University and University of Washington -- have been matched with PRSA Puget Sound members in our Mentors Program. Each student-and-pro pair will meet throughout this school year for a variety of professional development activities, such as resume review, interviewing tips, job shadowing and more. Students met their mentors at a Nov. 19 kickoff event at the Ballard Loft. Thank you very much to all our Mentors, especially those serving this year:
Returning Mentors
New Mentors For more information on the Mentors program or other student-related programs, please contact Student Outreach co-chairs Catherine Hinrichsen, APR, chinrichsen@seanet.com or Kauilani Ostrem, kauilani.ostrem@publicis-pr.com.
Welcome New & Returning MembersWe are very pleased to welcome the following new and returning members to our chapter.
Charles Anthony Zaragoza, Avanade Inc
If we missed your name, please contact Membership Chair Kari Sherrodd at 206-295-2826 or karisherrodd@hotmail.com or V.P. of Membership J. Ryan Shannon, APR, at 253-304-6013 or rshannon@elementzpr.com.
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Faces of the Next 50 years in PR: T.J. McMahon
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In the spirit of the season of giving, PRSA is giving away a free PRSA membership in December.
If you are not yet a member of PRSA but would like to be, here is your opportunity.
PRSA will give away a free one-year PRSA National membership, along with other prizes including: a black leather backpack with drawstring top, travel clock with calculator and calendar, a blue and black nylon messenger bag, and a baseball visor cap.
All you have to do is complete the entry form on the PRSA National Web site. The winners will be drawn at random from the eligible entries. Winners will be notified in January.
Thank you and welcome 2009 President Linda Farmer, APR
By 2008 president Janelle Guthrie, APR
With the clock winding down and 2009 just around the corner, I am filled with lots of pride, a little sadness and a great deal of optimism for the future.
It does not seem that long ago that we were all celebrating the 50th Anniversary at the Holiday Gala at the Space Needle, congratulating 2007 President David Blandford on a phenomenal year and honoring all the PR professionals who helped build our chapter into one of the largest and most respected in the nation.
I was excited and honored to assume the presidency but a bit anxious about my ability to live up to the legacy left by all the presidents who have come before me.
The anxiety quickly passed with the first board retreat and it turned to excitement after our first committee chair retreat. Many members never see all the hard work your board members, delegates, committee chairs and committee members do to keep our all-volunteer organization humming along so I hope you'll indulge me as I spotlight some of the incredible work they've done this year.
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| Randy Pepple, Cathy Allen and Robert Mak discuss the 2008 elections in January. |
Programs: In our 2008 membership survey, 86 percent of all members listed professional development as their top priority as members of the Puget Sound Chapter. Behind the scenes, Karla Lindula from Seattle Southside Visitor Services and Katherine Boury from Seattle-King County Red Cross, with assistance from their board liaison Jennifer Hawton, plan and implement the entire year of chapter breakfast programs. This year, they supplemented the morning meetings by bringing in national writing coach Ann Wylie for a half-day seminar attended by roughly 100 people. To round out the year, I was pleased to help plan our annual meeting and book signing at the Arctic Club Hotel, featuring national author Brian Reich, co-author of Media Rules! Mastering Today's Technology to Connect With and Keep Your Audience.
South Sound programs: As a South Sound veteran, I can't thank the chairs of this committee enough. Travelling to Seattle for programs is difficult enough when you're battle the a.m. rush. When you add on record-high gas prices, it's nearly impossible for most. The SS group offers incredible programming in Tacoma helping SS members enjoy professional development and networking without having to make it all the way to Seattle each month. Thank you to chairs Michelle Warmuth and Diane Schuirman-Hagedorn and their hard-working committee for providing this high-quality offering for SS PRSA members.
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Jumpstart: Recognizing the need to help young professionals transition from college to the workforce and to help new professionals gain hands on experience, the Puget Sound Chapter's Jumpstart provides a low-cost day of professional development, resume review and career advice. Congratulations to Chair Jenny Bragg, her committee and board liaison Katherine Reith, APR, for yet another inspiring and highly professional event.
Membership: The membership committee is a vital part of our chapter, welcoming new members, helping retain existing members and reaching out to connect members. Thank you to Chair Kari Sherrold, her committee and board liaison Ryan Shannon, APR, for your compassion, your innovation and your dedication to our chapter.
Totems Awards & Gala: In the fall, this committee generally gathers with volunteers to score awards from our partner chapter, spending several days in donated conference rooms poring over submissions to fairly judge them. Then they arrange the call for entries and ship all our Totems awards off to the partner chapter so they can judge our submissions. Finally, they plan and execute the Winter Totems Awards Gala to honor all our chapter winners. Special thank you to this year's Totems Chair Jessica Randazza and her fabulous committee as well as the 2007 liaison Ryan Shannon, APR, and 2008 liaison Amy Turner who helped make this committee the success that it was.
Professional Development Committee: While the Jumpstart focuses on new professionals, another important offering for all members is our biennial half-day professional conference and our regular brown-bag teleseminars. This year, as professionals adapt to the social and digital media trends, our professional development seminar offered them the opportunity to learn new skills at a local venue and affordable price. The conference wouldn't have been possible without the leadership of committee chairs, Brian Seitz and Kevin Laverty and the brown-bag teleseminars could not have happened without chair Chris Bridenbaugh. Additional thanks go to board liaison Neil Neroutsos, APR, who always pitches in to help where needed.
Non-Profit Seminar: PRSA's Non-Profit Seminar is a unique offering, recognizing the high number of PR professionals who work for non-profits in our region. Another low-cost, high-quality offering, the PRSA Nonprofit seminar is a model for the nation—and recognition for this year's event goes to Melisa Tizon and her committee as well as board liaison Katherine Reith.
Education and Accreditation: The Puget Sound Chapter has one of the highest rates of passage in the nation when it comes to the accreditation process—and credit for that goes to the dedicated professionals who organize our accreditation classes and all the APRs who agree to teach segments and to sit on readiness review panels. Thank you this year to board liaison, Troy Brown, APR, and his committee who have committed many hours to help our APR candidates achieve their dreams.
Communications Committee: It would be difficult to survive without our Communications Committee. Chair Carrie Anderson has enthusiasm and expertise gleaned from her work at BusinessWire and Newsflash Editor Rachel Tynan's tenacity and good humor have helped her whip her contributors into shape to provide the information-packed membership newsletter each month. Thank you to you both and special thanks to Board Liaison Rich Murphy, APR, and the communications committee for your work to build a chapter communications plan and to develop communications guidelines.
Holiday Gala, Awards and Scholarships: This month's Newflash gives kudos to the Holiday Gala and Awards Committees but I'd also like to remind people of the work of the scholarship committee. Chaired by Bev Holland, APR, this popular committee markets our scholarships to colleges, judges applications and grants funding to help young people in their pursuit of PR degrees. Thank you, Bev, board liaison Linda Wang-Stewart, APR, and all the long-time members of the scholarship committee.
Student Outreach & Mentoring: One of the most vibrant committees in the Puget Sound PRSA family, the student outreach and mentoring committee serves as a liaison with our PRSSA chapters and matches up mentors and students. The committee, co-chaired by Cathy Hinrichsen and Kauilani Ostrem with help from liaison Rita Brautigam, has built a PRSSA Facebook group, held a PRSSA leadership retreat and conducted numerous socials. I personally enjoyed getting to know all the PRSSA students and leaders—especially the two I mentored. Thank you for helping young professionals transition into the profession.
Jobline: Finally, let's recognize one last little committee that benefits employers, job seekers and our chapter's bottom line. Thank you to our Jobline Liaison, Elizabeth Zborowski, for attending Jobline meetings, publicizing the Jobline and helping us keep this free jobs resource available to our members.
2008 Board, Parliamentarian and Delegates: I've mentioned most of our board as I've described all the achievements of our chapter but I do not want to miss our ethics chair and past president, David Blandford, APR, who helped make learning ethics fun at the Second Annual Ethics Pub Quiz and who provided quiet leadership and support to me in my role as president. Erika Schmidt, APR, another past president, and our volunteer liaison, has helped match volunteers with committees. And yet another past president, Randy Hurlow, APR, has served as our parliamentarian. Treasurer Erik Elvejord keeps our finances on track and maximizes our investments for the scholarship fund and Secretary Rita Brautigam kept all our chapter records updated while maintaining minutes at all our meetings. Our 2008 delegates Megan Behrbaum, APR, Walt Greenwood, APR, Candy Young, APR and Terry LaBrue, APR, travelled to Detroit to represent our chapter at the PRSA National Assembly.
Association Services Inc: As I've outlined our successes this year, I'd be missing out if I didn't mention the backbone of the association, Diane and Loretta Bevins of ASI and Mike Sensney, our Web guru. Words can't express my gratitude for their attention to all our needs and their dedication to the PRSA and its success. Very few chapters are lucky enough to have association support and we would be lost without them.
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As I pass the gavel to my successor, Linda Farmer, APR, I'm so grateful for the strength and leadership she will inherit.
It's been roughly 10 years since Linda recruited me to succeed her as South Sound chair. As a colleague, a friend and a carpool buddy, Linda and I have spent many hours discussing the future of the chapter, how we can continue to evolve into the future and how we can continue to engage our members so our chapter stays strong.
Linda is highly respected both regionally and nationally for her expertise in local government public relations. She's worked at a university, for the City of Tacoma, as communications director for the Puget Sound Action Team and now as communications manager for the City of Federal Way. The chapter is blessed to welcome her as its newest president.
I can't wait to serve on her board and bask in her leadership as we head into 2009. Cheers!
Join the Puget Sound PRSA LinkedIn Group!
Join the online networking world and add Puget Sound PRSA to your Linkedin Profile. This is a great way to quickly find and contact a fellow member, start an online discussion or show your pride in the organization.
To add the group to your profile, search for Groups and type in Puget Sound Public Relations Society of America.
Interested in Submitting an item for Newsflash?
Members interesting in submitting content for Newsflash should please send it to the Rachel Tynan at rachel.tynan@hotmail.com by the 25th of each month.
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Learn more on Puget Sound PRSA at www.prsapugetsound.org
