Kathy Barbour

Barbour
The nominating committee of PR Society of America, headed by Miamian Rosanna Fiske, meets today, tomorrow and Sunday in Chicago and appears on the verge of picking Kathy Barbour of Coral Gables as 2014 chair-elect. Coral Gables is just south of Miami.

Fiske, who was 2011 chair of the Society and head of the Global Strategic Communications Master’s Program at Florida Int’l University until last August, is now with Republica, Miami ad/PR firm.

One of the clients of the firm is Baptist Health South Florida.

Rosanna Fiske

Fiske
Barbour is corporate director of PR and marketing of Baptist Health which is a group of at least 11 hospitals and health-related entities. Revenues in 2010, the latest available year, were $891.5 million. Net assets of the 501/c/3 non-profit were $1.9 billion. The 2010 tax form was filed Aug. 8, 2012 (EIN 65-0267668).

The only opposition to Barbour is Blake Lewis of Dallas, who, if picked, would be the seventh male to hold the top elective post in an eight-year period. Women members, who comprise more than 70% of the membership and who account for presidents of 20 of the 25 biggest chapters, have been complaining about male dominance in the post.

Baptist Health an Aggressive Marketer

Business people in the Miami area say Baptist Health is an aggressive marketer.
It is currently on a campaign to sign up not only medical entities as partners but also individual doctors and small group practices.

Doctors say BH offers to take over billing and other administrative chores if the doctors agree to become employees of BH for at least five years.

Among conditions are that the medical practices must recommend other members of the BH universe for any medical treatments.

Critics of such takeovers say that this will cost the U.S. government more because hospitals can charge Medicare more than private physicians can for a particular medical service, sometimes as much as 40-50% more.

BH in Lockdown

Robert Dube

Dube
BH, after responding to an initial e-mail from the O’Dwyer Co., has not responded to requests for information nor acknowledged receiving e-mails. One piece of information sought is the latest 990 filing.

Not responding are Christine Kotler, AVP, marketing and PR; Brien Keeley, CEO and president, and Robert L. Dube, chair of BH, who retired last year as magistrate judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The 28-member board of BH includes seven clergymen—Rev. William L. Chambers III, Rev. David W. Cleeland, Rev. Dr. Gary Johnson, Rev. Richard Ledgister, Rev. Wilner Maxy, Rev. Tom Thompson and Rev. Dr. William W. White.

Attempts to reach some of the clergymen were unsuccessful. Assistants asked for the reason for talking to the clergy and refused to give direct contact information.

The reason for contacting them is that none of the staff of BH will answer any O’Dwyer questions.

BH Is a “Faith-Based Organization”
BH’s website says it is “a faith-based organization guided by the spirit of Jesus Christ and the Judeo-Christian ethics. We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of clinical and service excellence, rooted in the utmost integrity and moral practice.”

The School of Journalism and Mass Communication at FIU, where Fiske headed the Global Strategic Communications Master’s Program, was criticized in 2010 by University of North Carolina journalism dean Dr. Richard Cole who had been retained to critique the School.

He said almost all faculty members were critical of Dean Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver and “There is no question that most faculty members want her removed immediately.”

The comments were in a March 1, 2010 report on FIU’s program. Cole has chaired national accreditation visits and conducted evaluations for 50 other universities. His report on FIU listed 17 anonymous quotes from faculty members. Only three of the school’s 24 full-time teachers were protected by tenure.

16 of 18 Nomcom Are APRs
Members of the 2013 nomcom include 16 who are accredited and two who are not.
If the proportion of APRs who are in the membership (18%) were followed, 16 of the nomcom members would be non-APR and two would be APR.

Non-APR members and some APR members have sought since 1999 to win the right of non-APRs to run for national board and officer posts. This has been barred since the 1970s. However, the Assembly, which is abut 70% APRs, has beaten back the proposal whenever it is made.

Non-APR members of the nomcom would look for candidates who support “decoupling” APR from office-holding. The APR program, in the last ten years, has resulted in new PRSA APRs coming in at half the rate as in the previous ten years.

Nomcom Members Listed

Meeting this weekend in Chicago are nomcom members Del Galloway representing past presidents; Philip Tate, members-at-large; Anthony D’Angelo, College of Fellows; Maria Russell, Syracuse Univ.; Debra Bethard-Caplick, Midwest; Amber Marie Chiang, N. Pacific; Denise Clark, East Central; John Deveney, members-at-large; Natalie Ghidotti, professional interest sections; Mindy Hughes, Mid-Atantic; Christine Jensen, interest sections; Diane Jones, Sunshine; Chuck Norman, Southeast; John Senall, Northeast; Sam James Morrey Sims, Southwest, and Julie Smith-Taylor, Western.

All are APR except Senall and Clark.

Also on the nomcom as ex-officio are Gerard Corbett, 2012 chair; Bill Murray, president and COO, and Barry Glazer, Certified Professional Parliamentarian, of Glazer Consulting Services, Indianapolis.

There is no one from the New York City chapter on the nomcom. It is the largest chapter based in a city. Larger chapters are National Capital, which takes members from D.C., Virginia and Maryland, and Georgia, which takes members from the entire state.