The Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Leadership Assembly voted today to elect Anthony W. D’Angelo, APR, chair of the Society for 2018. D’Angelo, professor of practice, public relations, at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse, N.Y, will serve as PRSA’s chair-elect on the National Board of Directors in 2017.
“I am honored and humbled to be elected to serve PRSA as we look to the future of the Society and the public relations profession,” said D’Angelo. “I believe our profession has a particular responsibility to model collaborative servant leadership, based on a solid ethical foundation and a commitment to giving people a say in decisions that affect them.”
In addition to D’Angelo, several other candidates selected by the PRSA National Nominating Committee were elected to the PRSA National Board of Directors for two-year terms beginning in 2017. The new board members are:
Officers:
Treasurer: Debra D. Peterson, APR, vice president, external communications and community relations, CenturyLink, New Century, Kan.
Secretary: Garland Stansell, APR, chief communications officer, Children’s of Alabama, Birmingham, Ala.
District Representatives:
Director, Tri-State District: Andrew McCaskill, APR, senior vice president, global communications, Nielsen, New York, N.Y.
Director, East Central District: Richard J Batyko, APR, Fellow PRSA, senior vice president, marketing, communications & development, Team NEO, Medina, Ohio
Director, Western District: Michelle Olson, APR, general manager, Scottsdale office, Fingerpaint, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Director, Northeast District: Jo Ann S. LeSage Nelson, APR, vice president, client services, Pierce Communications, Albany, N.Y.
Director, Mid-Atlantic District: Samantha Julie Villegas, APR, president, SaVi PR, LLC, Washington, D.C.
Director At-Large:
Robert T. Hastings, Jr., APR+M, Fellow PRSA, executive vice president, communications & government affairs, chief of staff, Bell Helicopter, Fort Worth, Texas
They join incumbent Board of Directors members returning for 2016, including:
Chair: Jane Dvorak, APR, Fellow PRSA
Immediate-Past Chair: Mark W. McClennan, APR
Amy T. Coward, APR, Fellow PRSA, vice president, public relations, Palmetto Health Foundation, Columbia, South Carolina
Bonnie P. Upright, APR, senior vice president, Olympus Foundation Management, Orange Park, Florida
Don Hale, vice president for public relations and marketing communications, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
Joyce A. Lofstrom, MS, APR, senior director, corporate communications, HIMSS, Chicago
Ronele M. Dotson, APR, president, RAD Strategies Inc., Reno, Nevada
Sam James Morrey Sims, APR, director of public relations and marketing, US Fleet Tracking, Edmond, Oklahoma
D’Angelo’s appointment to the position as professor of practice in public relations at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications followed more than 25 years’ service in the corporate and agency sectors, including communications leadership roles for ITT Corporation, the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation, Magna International, United Technologies and Sage Marketing Communications.
D’Angelo’s practice areas include change management, reputation management, branding and marketing communications, and he is currently developing a financial communications/investor relations specialization for undergraduate and graduate students at Syracuse University. He has also contributed to two popular public relations textbooks.
Prior to being selected to lead PRSA in 2018, D’Angelo served the Society in various leadership roles including (most recently) national secretary, a past chair of the College of Fellows, and a founder of PRSA’s MBA program which aims to bring strategic communications content to MBA curricula nationwide. He has also served in a variety of PRSA board, district and chapter leadership positions.
D’Angelo’s pieces on the importance of strategic communications to organizational leadership have appeared in BusinessWeek, the Financial Times and The Public Relations Strategist. He is also a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal’s “Crisis of the Week” column. He has presented seminars on change management at several conferences and universities over the past 15 years.