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Jan. 18, 2006

PRSA NAMES COO SEARCH GROUP
 

A political battle is shaping up at PRSA centered around the search for a COO to replace Catherine Bolton, who is leaving Dec. 31, 2006.


Bolton

A key issue is whether a PR or association professional will be sought. This was debated when the last COO search took place in 1993.

The PRSA board, wasting no time after Bolton announced her resignation last month, named seven members to a search committee to fill a post that has been paying $300,000+ including salary and benefits.

No Chapter President on Committee

Search committee members are:

Robert Pritchard, assistant journalism professor, Ball State University, faculty advisor for the local PRSSA chapter, and chair of the PRSA Educators Academy.

Karla Voth, 16-year PRSA staffer who is VP of special events and manager of the annual PRSA national conference.

David Rickey, VP-PR, Alfa Corp., insurance company, who was appointed chair of the Board of Ethics and Professional Standards in 2004. He became the first ethics chair who did not previously serve on BEPS, replacing Charles Wood, who resigned after two years on BEPS.

Debra Miller, 1997 president of PRSA and chair-elect of the College of Fellows. Miller, now at Clark Atlanta University, has had administrative and teaching positions and Howard and Hampton Universities, the University of Portland, and Florida International University.

Ellen Shedlarz, head of human resources at Hill & Knowlton, who is not a member of PRSA.

Pender McCarter, director of communications and PR, IEEE-USA, technical professional association, Washington, D.C. He is a founding member of PRSA's new Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Affinity Group; vice chair of the PRSA Diversity Committee, and past chair of the College of Fellows Association section.

Grace Leong, president, Hunter PR, New York. She is a former national board member and was co-chair of the 2004 national conference in New York.

Veteran members lauded the presence of a non-member of PRSA on the committee (Shedlarz) but said it lacked one or more chapter presidents.

They also wondered why PRSA staffer Voth is on the committee when she might be a contender for the job and why the search announcement was signed by both Cheryl Procter-Rogers, 2006 president, and Judith Phair, 2005 president. There appears to be no chair of the committee.

The announcement said the committee "will seek feedback from national leaders" on the search. There was no mention of polling rank-and-file members on their thoughts about a new COO.

PR vs. Assn. Pro Argued in 1993

David Drobis, CEO of Ketchum, and John Margaritis, president of Ogilvy Adams & Rinehart (now with Euro RSCG Worldwide) argued for a PR COO when the last search took place in 1993.

Drobis, since retired, cited the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies, whose staff by tradition is headed by an ad veteran. The 25 VPs or above on the staff of 87 include 17 with an ad background.

Consultant James E. Arnold, who headed the search committee, said at the time it was pressured by many ex-presidents to name an association pro.

Others on the search committee included Harold Burson, founder of Burson-Marsteller, Joseph Epley, 1991 president, and Rosalee Roberts, 1992 president. The committee was appointed by 1993 president Hal Warner.

Korn/Ferry International worked on the search. Reports were that many prospective candidates were not interested in the position because of the PRSA policy against having PR professionals at h.q. Prospective candidates did not want to be the only senior PR professional at h.q.

Patrick Jackson, 1980 president of PRSA, and James Little, 1981 president, had directed the removal of PR pros from h.q. staff, saying the staff should be concerned with administration and the elected leaders with PR policies and statements.

Rea Smith, former head of a PR firm who worked on the staff from 1957, becoming COO in 1975, was replaced in 1980 by Betsy Kovacs, a career association executive.

Reports from the search committee were that elected officers did not want PR pros at h.q. attempting to set policy or win publicity for themselves.

Supporters of a PR pro noted that staffs at the American Medical Assn., American Bar Assn., and American Institute of CPAs are headed by those from the respective professions and that many of the staff members are doctors, lawyers or CPAs.

Direct Student Membership Proposed

A side issue that has resurfaced, partly because Pritchard, the chair of the Educators Academy, is on the search committee, is whether students from any college can join PRSA. Currently only those from 270 colleges "approved" by PRSA can join the PRSSA student unit.

Backers of the 2002 at-large student proposal want it brought up again.

The student proposal, which was on the agenda for discussion at the Assembly in 2002, caused a firestorm of opposition from affected parties including PR professors and students themselves.

Fifty leaders of PRSA including 1973 president Betsy Plank wrote the board that allowing students to join PRSA from the 3,600 other colleges would have "severe, counterproductive impacts on the integrity of PRSA's educational mission" and its duties to PRSSA members, educators and advisors. Supporters said the professors and students feared an increase in competition for PR jobs.

They also noted that PRSA is not supposed to engage in any activities that lessen competition under a Federal Trade Commission consent decree signed in 1977.

The FTC had forced PRSA to remove two anti-competitive sections from its code that barred contingency fees and barred members from seeking PR accounts that were already handled by other members. There was no bar to members seeking accounts handled by non-members.

The at-large student membership proposal was cut from the agenda, never to return. A task force was promised to study the issue but no such task force was ever created.

Students Could Provide Revenues

Former PRSA board members say that allowing students from any college to join PRSA or PRSSA would not only be a major educational initiative but would provide much needed revenues. There are about eight million undergraduates and hundreds of thousands if not more than a million are majoring in communications, English and related subjects.

PRSSA has about 9,000 members.

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