Ray KotcherRay Kotcher
Ray Kotcher, chairman of Ketchum, will receive the Alexander Hamilton Medal of the Institute for PR Nov. 13 at the Yale Club, New York. Richard Dobbs of McKinsey will give the 53rd Distinguished Lecture.

The Institute will recognize the Ketchum chairman and senior partner for lifetime contribution to PR. During his 30 years at the firm, he has guided its global expansion including its combination with Pleon, major European consultancy.

He also increased the firm’s presence via major investments in the Middle East, Russia, China and India. He is a past trustee of the Institute and former chair of the PR Council. He now serves on its executive committee and on the board of the Arthur W. Page Foundation. He is also a trustee of the PRSA Foundation.

Dobbs, director of the McKinsey Global Institute, its business and economics research arm, will talk on “Prevailing Business Drivers: Digitization, Urbanization, Easternization.”

Richard DobbsRichard Dobbs
He led McKinsey’s Corporate Finance Practice from 2004-09 and was also responsible for research and development. Also a director of McKinsey, he now leads research on global economic trends with a focus on Asia. He won the Metal Box and Lubbock Prizes at Oxford University after graduating from the Stanford Business School where he was a Fulbright scholar.

Burton Leads Research Symposium

Keith Burton, formerly of Golin and Brunswick, who started his own firm, Grayson Emmett Partners this summer, is chair of the 2014 Trustees Research Symposium that will run from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Nov. 13. He is also chair of the IPR Commission on Organizational Communication.

Speakers are:

Ansgar Zerfass, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Strategic Communication, University of Leipzig, Germany, recipient of the 2014 IPR Pathfinder Award, who will discuss “Challenges for Communications Leaders—Insights from Int’l research.”

Peter Debreceny, Gagen McDonald, member, IPR Commission on Organizational Communication, will talk on “What Does Good Look Like,” a quantitative study of best-in-class practices in employee communication.

Terry Flynn, Ph.D., Asst. Prof., Communications Management, McMaster University, and Chris Graves, chairman, Ogilvy PR and 2015 chair, PR Council, will describe a “Neuro/Behavioral Communications Research Project.”

Gary Grates, principal, W2O group, will talk on the Commission on Organizational Communication’s “signature project” which is called, “Organizational Clarity.”

Robert Moran, partner, Brunswick Insight, Washington, D.C., will talk on “Crisis Communication in the `Who Could Have Known?’ Future.” Sarab Kochhar, IPR director of research, will conduct the adjournment. Sponsor of the event is Willard Nielsen, retired executive of Johnson & Johnson.