Inez Kaiser Honored With First Page Catalyst Award

Inez Kaiser

Inez Kaiser, who was the first African American woman to run her own public relations firm serving national clients, will be honored as the inaugural recipient of the Page Catalyst Award at the 2026 Page Annual Conference, September 27–29 at the JW Marriott Atlanta Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Page Catalyst Award recognizes individuals from any era whose early or pioneering work changed who could enter and succeed in communications. Page created it to honor those who made a place for themselves in a profession that had not been built with them in mind.

Inez Kaiser (1918-2016) opened Inez Kaiser & Associates in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, in 1957. While she was initially denied space for an office by several building owners, Kaiser wound up counseling such clients as 7UP, Burger King, Lever Brothers and Sears Roebuck, as well as lending her skills to the civil rights movement through the NAACP.

Bruce Berger

The conference will also present Bruce Berger, founder of the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations at the University of Alabama, with the Distinguished Service Award, which honors an individual who has helped strengthen the role of public relations over their lifetime of service to the profession. In addition, former Page president and CEO Roger Bolton will be inducted into the Page Hall of Fame, which recognizes lifetime achievement in a distinguished career of leadership in corporate communications and public relations.

Berger turned to teaching and research after two decades as a communications executive at the Upjohn Company and Whirlpool Corporation. At Page, he oversaw such initiatives as the Milestones in Mentoring gala and the Leadership Report Card, shaped how the profession develops and studies its own leaders.

Roger Bolton

Bolton's career spans the Reagan White House, the U.S. Treasury, where he served as assistant secretary for public affairs, and 11 years leading communications at Aetna, where he chaired the executive council responsible for the company's culture change during its turnaround. He led Page for 13 years, building it into a global association.

"We created the Catalyst Award because the profession's history should include the people who opened its doors, not only those who walked through them," said Page CEO Rochelle Ford. "Inez Kaiser is exactly the kind of pioneer we had in mind. Alongside her, Bruce K. Berger and Roger Bolton represent decades of service and leadership that so many of us have benefited from directly. It's a privilege to honor all three."