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
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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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