PRSA Snubbing of Authors’ Claims Under Assault

PR Society of American, which has avoided dealing with the authors whose works it copied and sold without their permission from 1978-94, now must listen to prominent members who have agreed to press the issue.

Giant cracks are appearing in the Society’s “wall of silence” since attention to the scandal will be brought to companies and agencies that have the most members. Failure to deal fairly with the authors is only possible if such companies remain silent. 

The company with the most members is AT&T with 101. Robert J. Quinn Jr. is senior XVP, external and legislative affairs. Randall Stephenson is CEO.

Robert Quinn

The cooperating members said they would perform “good offices,” a diplomatic term used for a third country that acts as an intermediary between two disputing countries.

Other matters demand the attention of those bankrolling the Society such as failure to warn prospective members that they will be “second class” citizens until they become “accredited.

APR should be erased from the bylaws.

Numerous Reforms Needed

There should be no proxy votes in the Assembly since they are barred by Robert's Rules; the CEO title should go back to the elected chair (as is the case for doctor, lawyer and CPA groups); PRSA membership lists and contact points should be open to the press like they were until 2005; authors copied illegally from 1978 to 1994 should get free ads indefinitely in Tactics and Strategist; there should be direct election of officers and board members using secure email voting; directors should campaign on issues and not their biographics.

Sixteen of the 17 board members in 2017 are APR despite efforts in 1999 and 2010 to erase that label from the bylaws. Only about 18% of members are APR. Steve Pisinski, 2000 national president, led such an effort as head of the strategic planning Committee in 1999. Richard Edelman headed a similar effort in 2010 via the “Committee for a Democratic PRSA.”

The 2010 Assembly, most of whose members were APR, rejected the bylaw change in 20 minutes. A group of 20 delegates then interrupted this reporter as we tried to interview committee member Art Stevens after the vote. An Assembly delegate, while Society leaders watched in a hotel window, then threatened to beat us “to a pulp” as we stood in front of the hotel, awaiting a ride.

Major Supporters of PRSA

Companies with the most members of the Society, after AT&T, are:

2. Coca-Cola, 51

3. Weber Shandwick, 49

4. Edelman, 39

5. Ketchum, 37

6. Padilla/CRT,35

7. Publicis/MSL, 34

8. Golin, 22

9. Porter Novelli, 21

10. Syracuse University, 17

11. Comcast, 15

Pay of Top Society Staffers in Form 990 

The Society delivered IRS Form 990 for 2015 to our offices on Dec. 22, 2016. It’s supposed to be available to anyone who asks for it by Nov. 15. Virtually all of the data, except pay of top staffers, was available in April 2016 when the group’s audit was published.

That showed 2015 revenues of $11,600,526 which is 0.15% more than revenues of $11,426,867 in 2006. There was a $30 dues increase in 2012.

Executive Pay Packages are as follows:

--Joseph Truncale, CEO, $370,261 base, $891 “other,” $24,161 retirement and deferred, and $18,289 nontaxable, for a total of $413,602.

--Bill Murray, previous CEO, was paid $430,973 in 2013, his last full year with the Society. That included a bonus of $63,058. He resigned as of June 1, 2014.

--Philip Bonaventura, CFO, total of $281,832.

--John Robinson, VP, corporate development, $221,724

--Karla Voth, VP, special events and programs, $210,177

--Alex Ortiz, VP, information technology, $182,960

--Jeneen Garia, VP, education, $181,937

--Wai Cheung, controller, $161,674.

Total is $1,654,006. This does not include medical plan payments. Payroll for all staffers totaled $5,766,542, up 8.3% from $5.3231,535 in 2014. It is 49.7% of revenues.

Spending on “ethics” was a record low of $945.