Contact:
Cedric L. Bess
212-460-1495
cedric.bess@prsa.org

NEW YORK (October 23, 2004) – The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) announced today the approval of officers and directors for its 2005 Board of Directors during its annual Assembly in New York, held prior to its 2004 International Conference, “Architects of Change, Advocates of Understanding: Advancing the Public Relations Profession.”

Del Galloway, APR, 2004 PRSA president & CEO, announced the new volunteer officers: 2005 president and CEO is Judith Turner Phair, APR, Fellow PRSA, president, PhairAdvantage Communications, Laurel, Md.; Cheryl Procter-Rogers, APR, Fellow PRSA, regional corporate affairs director, HBO, Rosemont, Ill., will serve as president-elect in 2005; Rhoda E. Weiss, APR, Fellow PRSA, president, Rhoda Weiss & Associates, Long Beach, Calif., will serve as treasurer; and Jeffrey P. Julin, APR, president, MGA Communications, Inc., Denver, Colo., will serve as secretary.

“I want to thank the Assembly for this great opportunity to lead our Society and to serve our members,” said Procter-Rogers, who currently serves as a PRSA national director-at-large. “It will be my mission to build upon the strengths of our Society, create an environment that will ignite change, empower our members and energize our leadership. As president of PRSA, I will work passionately and diligently to deliver on our promise to advance the profession and the professional.”

Elected to serve three-year terms as a director are: Gary D. McCormick, APR, program manager, public affairs, SY Coleman Corporation, Bel Air, Md.; John J. Deveney, APR, senior counsel and CEO, Deveney Communications, New Orleans; Mary Deming Barber, APR, Fellow PRSA, president, The Barber Group Inc., Anchorage, Alaska; and Gerard F. Corbett, APR, Fellow PRSA, vice president, branding and corporate communications group, Hitachi America, Ltd., Brisbane, Calif..

The seven newly elected volunteers will join 2005 President & CEO Judith T. Phair, APR, Fellow PRSA and the eight directors who remain on the Board in 2005, including Sue Bohle, APR, Fellow PRSA; Michael Cherenson, APR; Anthony D’Angelo, APR; Cathryn Harris, APR, Fellow PRSA; Rosanna M. Fiske, APR; Steven Lubetkin, APR, Fellow PRSA; and Tom Vitelli, APR, Fellow PRSA.

In addition, three candidates were elected to fill positions as delegate-at-large to the PRSA Assembly in 2005 and they include: Elise S. Mitchell, APR, Fellow PRSA, president, Mitchell Communications Group, Fayetteville, Ark.; Barbara J. Muessig, APR, president and PR counselor, Rocky Bay Communications, Alpena, Mich.; and Ronald Owens, APR, senior communications specialist, corporate communications, Kaiser Permanente, Pasadena, Calif.

Catherine A. Bolton serves as the Society’s executive director and chief operating officer.

Phair, Procter-Rogers, Weiss and Julin will join 2005 immediate past president, Del Galloway, APR, on the 2005 PRSA Executive Committee.

About the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
The Public Relations Society of America (www.prsa.org), based in New York City, is the world's largest organization for public relations professionals. The Society has more than 28,000 professional and student members. PRSA is organized into 114 Chapters nationwide, 18 Professional Interest Sections along with Affinity Groups, which represent business and industry, counseling firms, independent practitioners, military, government, associations, hospitals, schools, professional services firms and nonprofit organizations. The Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) has 255 Chapters at colleges and universities throughout the United States.