2010 PRSA-LA
Board of Directors
PRESIDENT
Eric Moses
Occidental Petroleum Corp.
PRESIDENT-ELECT
Brian O'Connor
Cunard Line
VICE PRESIDENT/ TREASURER
Alfredo E. Padilla
Laureate Higher Education Group
VICE PRESIDENT/ SECRETARY
Josefina Mora Playhouse District Association VICE PRESIDENT
Erik Deutsch
ExcelPR Group
Victoria Lelash, APR
PainePR
Dennis Kaiser
ValleyCrest Landscape Companies
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Rita Tateel The Celebrity Source
DIRECTORS
Stephen Chavez Chavez Marketing & Communications
Kathleen Flood MWW Group
Holly Ferris
Ferris Communications
Michael J. Furtney, APR,
Fellow PRSA
Killeen Furtney Group
John Musella, APR
Newhall Land
Negin Kamali
GolinHarris
Kerry Sinclair Chandler Chicco Agency
Tod Tamberg Archdiocese of Los Angeles
Karen White, APR Amgen
Denis Wolcott, APR The Wolcott Company
Robert J. Wolff Bank of the West ASSEMBLY DELEGATES Peter Hidalgo, APR Time Warner Cable
Bravo Productions
Sallie Olmsted, APR Rogers & Cowan
Stefan Pollack
Pollack PR Marketing Group
Daryl R. McCullough
PainePR
Phyllis Tucker Hill & Knowlton
Dawn Wilcox, APR
Allison & Partners
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The Los Angeles Area Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America is comprised of more than 500 public relations professionals representing many L.A.-area corporations, public relations agencies, independent practitioners, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations.
Our diverse membership benefits from PRSA-LA's educational and networking opportunities, as well as services such as job listings, referral programs, internship opportunities, chapter meetings and other resources.
Milestones
1948
PRSA-LA incorporated as one of PRSA's first five founding chapters. Bob Roberts elected first chapter president.
1955
PRSA-LA hosts the national PRSA Annual Conference. More than 1,100 PR pros attend at the Ambassador Hotel.
1964
PRSA-LA holds the first annual PRism Awards competition and banquet.
1965
PRSA-LA elects its first woman president, Pat Penney.
1970
PRSA-LA Executive Director Barbara Shore is hired to run the chapter's day-to-day operations - a position she still holds 40 years later.
1985
PRSA-LA awards the first Joseph Roos Award to recognize PR professionals who have demonstrated extraordinary community service.
1988 PRSA-LA members Eric Stoltz and Tom Trevett form PRSA's first Young Professionals (YP) section.
1989
PRSA-LA awards the first Don Perkins Grant to fund PR services for worthy nonprofit organizations.
1990
PRSA-LA and the Annenberg School for Communication hold the first Kenneth Owler Smith (KOS) Symposium named after the beloved USC professor.
2003
PRSA-LA holds its first IPG (Independent Practitioners Group) Meeting.
2004
PRSA-LA Board Member Dawn Wilcox, APR stages the first Quality Time with PR Minds event and creates a model program for assisting nonprofits that is emulated by other PRSA chapters.
2008
PRSA-LA Celebrates its 60th Anniversary with the largest gathering of past presidents in the chapter's history. More than 20 past presidents chronicle their recollections about the history of the chapter.
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L.A. Connect
is published by
PRSA-LA
11271 Ventura Blvd. #514
Studio City, CA 91604
Phone: 818-761-5575
prsala@aol.com
www.prsala.org
Philip Sokoloski, Editor
213-977-8630
(c) 2010 PRSA-LA
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Greetings!
 | | Eric Moses |
Sixteen years ago, one of my journalism professors at USC gave me a piece of professional advice: "Get an email account." He had a simple point: If you put an email address on your resume, you'll let employers know that you're beginning to communicate in new ways, beginning to change your story and beginning to influence others. Nothing has changed in the last decade and half, except for the tools we use to communicate.
As PR professionals we continue to find ways to use new forms of communication to tell our clients' stories and influence others. We can microtarget our stories to select individuals but the events that move people to act -- and capture the media's attention -- are trends.
Consider Time magazine's runners-up for Person of Year were the Tea Party movement and WikiLeaks' Julian Assange. Both organizations are dependent on the wide dissemination of information over the Internet, whether it's via a website Meetup, YouTube, blogs and, yes, Facebook. But, as we know, it was Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg who earned the estimable title because he helped create one of the game-changing communication tools that allows WikiLeaks and the Tea Party to exist. If Facebook were a country, only China and India would have larger populations, according to the magazine. To have so many people involved in the same activity is the trend underlying Time's story. Using Facebook to tell our stories and influence large groups in a single click of the mouse is for the moment essential to our business.
The PR profession is evolving nearly as fast as technology itself. Our profession needs to keep pace and that's what students ought to be taught these days in university PR programs. Certainly, professors no longer have to instruct their students to get an email account, or a Facebook account for that matter, but the key piece of advice remains the same: Get connected.
On a closing note, I want to thank our members, my fellow board members, our sponsors and my colleagues at Oxy for making 2010 a great year. I enjoyed serving as the chapter's president.
Sincerely,
Eric Moses, PRSA-LA President
Director, Communications & Public Affairs
Occidental Petroleum Corp.
ericmosesprsa@yahoo.com
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Barbara Shore, PRSA-LA Executive Director, Completes Service to Chapter after 40 Years
 | | Past, Present, Future of PRSA-LA Leaders: On the occasion of the last Board Meeting of 2010, past, present and future leaders posed for a holiday photo with Barbara Shore, who completes her service as Executive Director of the Chapter this month after 40 years. Form left to right: Dennis Kaiser (2011 President-Elect), Brian O'Connor (2011 President, Barbara Shore, Rita Tateel (2008-09) President and Eric Moses (2010 President). |
PRSA-LA's long-serving Executive Director Barbara Shore will leave the chapter at the end of December to work full-time as an Executive Vice President at Luxe Hotels, a worldwide hospitality company.
She served as PRSA-LA's Executive Director for 40 years, in that time witnessing major transformations in the PR industry. An association management professional, Shore's association with the PR profession began when she was hired by Burns Lee Public Relations as an account executive in 1970. Soon after, she began working for the chapter.
For all her efforts on the chapter's behalf, Shore was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010 PRism Awards. She shares her reflections on her decades of service in this short tribute video.
"Our chapter was very fortunate to have Barbara serve as our executive director for so many years," said PRSA-LA President Eric Moses. "Her commitment and dedication to PRSA-LA was evident every single day to every person who worked with her. We wish her well in her new adventure."
Shore can be reached at barbara.shore@luxehotels.com.
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PRSA-LA Names New Executive Director
 | | Mindy Gail |
Mindy Gail joins PRSA-LA asExecutive Director having served in the same capacity for the British American Business Council Los Angeles (BABC LA) a professional organization which fosters business relations and commerce between Los Angeles and Great Britain. Mindy will oversee PRSA-LA's administrative functions and be a point of contact for the chapter's members.
Prior to joining BABC LA, Mindy worked for the Farmers Insurance Group of Companies for over 15 years in the Claims, Marketing and Executive Administration functions at the corporate home office.
Mindy is one of the founding organizers and is the Executive Director of BritWeek, an annual series of entertainment and cultural events that celebrates "All Things British" here in Los Angeles each spring.
She is actively involved with community outreach sports and arts programs for children and teenagers and is a founding sponsor of the Youth Musical Theatre Association, producing both Aida and Hairspray with casts of high school and college students. She is a fourth-generation Californian, a graduate of California State University Northridge and lives in the San Fernando Valley spending as much time as possible with her family and two Golden Retrievers.
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Announcing PRSA-LA's Chapter Officers, Directors, and Assembly Delegates for 2011
The results from November's ballot are in, and PRSA-LA is pleased to name the those elected to help lead the chapter to excellence in 2011: OFFICERS President: Brian O'Connor, Cunard Line President-Elect: Dennis Kaiser, ValleyCrest Companies Vice President/Treasurer: Steve Locascio, The Michael Russell Group
Vice President/Secretary: Kerry Sinclair, Chandler Chicco Vice President: Erik Deutsch, ExcelPR Group Vice President: Negin Kamali, GolinlHarris Vice President: Alfredo Padilla, Laureate Education, Inc.
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Eric Moses, Occidental Petroleum Corporation
DIRECTORS Julie Benson, Princess Cruises Stephen Chavez, Chavez Marketing & Communications Holly Ferris, Ferris Communications Kathleen Flood, MWW Group Victoria Lelash, APR, PainePR Shari Mesulam, mPRm Public Relations John Musella, APR, Newhall Land Anna Parra, Time Warner Cable Stephan Roth, OutThink Partners Phyllis Tucker, Hill & Knowlton Dawn Wilcox, APR, Allison & Partners Denis Wolcott, APR, The Wolcott Company
ASSEMBLY DELEGATES Michael Furtney, APR, Fellow PRSA, Killeen Furtney Group Gregory Jenkins, APR, Bravo Productions Daryl R. McCullough, PainePR Sallie Olmstead, APR, Rogers & Cowan Stefan Pollack, Pollack PR Marketing Group Rita Tateel, The Celebrity Source
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In Memoriam
Joseph R. Cerrell
1935-2010
 | | Joseph R. Cerrell |
PRSA-LA mourns the passing of the legendary Los Angeles public affairs and public relations practitioner Joseph R. Cerrell, who built his firm, Cerrell Associates, into the 43rd-largest independently owned PR firm in the United States and the 4th-largest independently owned PR firm in Los Angeles, according to O'Dwyer's 2010 Directory of Public Relations Firms.
"Joe was a larger-than-life figure in California politics and public affairs for the past half century, beginning as a USC college Democrat and building a career in which he was an advisor to presidents, governors and political figures at all levels," said Cerrell Associates Chairman and CEO Hal Dash, a former PRSA-LA president. "His legacy as a counselor, confidant, and close friend to thousands of people in politics, the business community, as well as in the public relations and non-profit arenas, especially the Italian-American community in Los Angeles, will not be forgotten."
You can learn more about Joe's life and legacy at http://josephcerrell.com/. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the "Joseph R. Cerrell Center Circle Scholarship."
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Attention Employers!
PRSA-LA Job Listings
The job listings section of PRSA-LA's Web site is a great resource for reaching qualified PR professionals seeking employment. Listings are free to post, and remain on the site for 30 days (renewable upon request). Click here to post a job.
Members check out the new jobs opportunities at South Coast Air Quality Management District, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Porter Novelli, j2 Global Communications and the Bohle Company. If you need assistance accessing the site, contact prsala@aol.com.
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UCLA Extension Course Discounts
PRSA-LA Members Can Save $25 and Study With Fellow Dues-Paying Instructors
Did you know PRSA-LA members can now save up to $25 on select public relations courses offered by UCLA Extension? Courses focus on a wide range of PR topics, from writing and working with the media to fundraising and special events. All count towards UCLA Extension's Certificate Program in Public Relations, and many are taught by experienced members of PRSA-LA, such as: - Fundamentals of Public Relations (Online)
Understand the tools, resources and networks needed to succeed in PR. Taught by Robert Z. Chew, former executive VP with Burston-Marstellar.
- Writing for Public Relations
Master strategic writing and key message formulation with PR exec Joann Killeen.
- Entertainment Public Relations
PR legend Julian Myers & 5-time Publicists Guild of America President Henri Bollinger present a dazzling array of PR heavyweights.
- Film Publicity for the Entertainment Industry
Go behind the silver screen and learn to get your film project noticed with award-winning professional Tim Menke.
- Public Relations for Nonprofits
Work with Kimberly Cohn, Director of Marketing Communications for Easter Seals SoCal, to take your nonprofit organization to the next level.
- Recruiting and Coordinating Celebrities/Talent
Fresh from the 2010 award season, celebrity wrangler Rita Tateel shares trade tips to get your star to say "Yes."
For more information about these courses, visit the UCLA Extension website. If you're planning to register, don't delay! Some classes begin as early as January 11, 2011.
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Volunteers Needed: Share Your Wisdom with PRSSA Students
 Do you have wisdom that would benefit future public relations professionals? Have you presented to students before and want a reason to share that same information again with a new audience?
PRSA-LA sponsors six Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapters - Biola University, CSU Dominguez Hill, CSU Long Beach, CSU Northridge, Pepperdine University and the University of Southern California. All chapters host meetings that feature guest speakers, and they're always looking for professionals willing to visit their campuses.
If you're interested in serving as a guest speaker, please email your name, title, company and topic, and we'll share your interest with the LA-area PRSSA chapters.
For more information on how to support PRSA-LA's student chapters, please contact Holly Ferris at holly@ferriscomm.com or (562)429-6456.
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 Wed., January 26
State of the State of PR / Meet Your Board of Directors
Omni Hotel, Downtown Los Angeles
Tue., February 8
PR & Protocol
Featuring exceutives from The Protocol School of Washington, DC
Venue TBA
Thu., April 14
Kenneth Owler Smith Symposium
USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
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Looking for Project Suppliers?
Find Them with PRSA-LA's Online Resource Directory
Did you know PRSA-LA publishes an online Resource Directory of suppliers that cater to local PR professionals?
The Directory lists and provides links to qualified suppliers in a range of categories. Best of all, you can browse the entire directory right from the chapter's Web site.
If you're a supplier interested in reaching local PR professionals, click here to access the directory registration form. PRSA-LA members are also encouraged to help get the word out by telling service providers about this valuable marketing opportunity.
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Welcome New Members
Rebecca Simone Dubick
Burson Marsteller
| Leigh McCreary
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
| Alice McWilliams
| Ronjini Mukhopadhyay
| Sheri Neely
| Jan Oelrich
| Olga E. Quinones
Water Replenishment District of Southern California
| Robert Charles Tate
| Tiffany M. Too
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Free Media Monitoring/Clipping for Nonprofits
 CyberAlert, Inc. has announced that it will provide free media monitoring and clipping services to nonprofit organizations as part of its eighth annual "public relations grant" program.
According to the company's news release, a minimum of 15 nonprofits will be selected to receive one full year of services ranging in value from $3,000 to $4,500.
Applications will be accepted until December 31 via the company's online application form.
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