PR Professional of the Year: Corporate

Laura Moore
Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer
RadioShack Corporation

Laura Moore joined Tandy Corporation in 1998 as vice president of public relations and corporate communications. Today, she is senior vice president and chief communications officer for what is now simply called RadioShack Corporation, where she serves on the company’s executive committee. Her responsibilities include strategic planning, management and integration of all the company’s internal and external communications, including executive and strategic communications, media relations, company store and dealer communications, community relations, events and recognition … even corporate travel. In the past year, Laura led the creation, development and launch of RadioShack’s first-ever national grassroots community outreach program, called StreetSentz. The program is in partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and utilizes RadioShack’s network of 7,200 stores to help educate consumers about the prevention of child abduction and exploitation. Prior to RadioShack, she served as vice president of corporate communications for Zale Corporation; community relations manager at Fidelity Investments, and public affairs officer with the Texas Department of Transportation. In 2002, she received the Texas Public Relations Association award for outstanding practitioner. She is a member of the Arthur Page Society and PR Seminar and serves on several non-profit boards in the North Texas area.

Helen Wagner
Director of Public Relations, 3M

Helen Wagner, head of Public Relations at 3M, has had a variety of positions in her career which spans more than 25 years. She started as a freelance writer and moved on to product, marketing and brand PR positions. For 10 years, she worked in 3M's New York Public Relations office and managed the department which included financial and business media relations as well as consumer programs.

Helen is no stranger to recognition. She is a recipient of the 3M Global Sales and Marketing Award, the public relations "Circle of Excellence" award from the International Furnishings and Design Association and the Platinum International Public Relations Award for the 3M 100th anniversary campaign ---- "A Century of Innovation." In June, she was named a Silver Anvil Award of Excellence winner.

"My favorite campaigns are the ones on which I am working at the moment," Helen quips. However, she does list "The Scotch Most Gifted Wrapper "contest and the "Post-it Notes Sticking Up for Breast Cancer Awareness" program as being among her major initiatives during the last 12 months.

PR Professional of the Year: Agency

Pat McNamara
President/Owner
Apex Public Relations

With close to 20 years experience at several Canadian public relations agencies, Pat McNamara started APEX Public Relations six years ago out of a desire to create an agency with a single focus: execute great work for its clients. In just six years, APEX Public Relations has grown to over $5 million and a staff of 27, with top name clients including Coca-Cola, ConAgra, DaimlerChrysler, FujiFilm, Kellogg's, Levi Strauss & Co. and Nike. Pat has been recognized with many awards for both her business acumen and her commitment to mentoring, including the Canadian Public Relations Society’s Toronto chapter's 2003 PR Professional of the Year; one of Chatelaine's Top 100 Women Business Owners, a ranking of the most successful women who own businesses in Canada; the Canadian Public Relations Society’s 2002 Attainment Award and the 2001 Canadian Public Relations Society Toronto Mentorship Award. Pat is a former marketing public relations instructor at Ryerson University, a member, and past board member, of PRSA's Counselors Academy, and a member and longstanding volunteer of the Canadian Public Relations Society. She is also a director of a non-profit organization she co-founded called On Your Bike!, which collects used kids' bicycles, repairs and donates them to disadvantaged children in Toronto.

PR Professional of the Year: Community Relation

Julie T. Hurbanis
SVP, Consumer Marketing Team
Weber Shandwick

Julie Hurbanis co-leads the Consumer Marketing group, which serves clients such as Andersen Windows, Coca-Cola, Honeywell, the Internal Revenue Service and Upromise. In addition to her client work, she leads the agency's award-winning pro bono program, which focuses on making a difference in the lives of Minnesota youth and families. More than 75 percent of employees in the Minneapolis office participate in the program, which includes pro bono client teams, "Weber Shandwick on Loan" work projects and a day-long communications workshop for Minnesota non-profits. Prior to joining Weber Shandwick, Hurbanis worked for seven years at Golin/Harris in Chicago, where she oversaw a number of U.S. and global campaigns on the MasterCard International team. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Ronald McDonald House of the Twin Cities.

PR Professional of the Year: Nonprofit

Elizabeth Rogers
Director of Communications, Oral Health America

Elizabeth has served as Director of Communications at Oral Health America for the past five years. Prior to working at Oral Health America, she owned and operated Rogers Public Relations Firm representing clients in the arts. She also directed the Chicago office of a New York-based public relations firm, conducting publicity campaigns for international art and antique expositions in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Before launching a career in communications, Elizabeth produced popular daily talk shows for WBEZ, Chicago’s National Public Radio Station, leading the preparation of round-table discussions and one-on-one interviews with guests as diverse as Jimmy Carter, Ann Beattie, Gary Wills, and Art Spiegleman. The on-air host of her Saturday morning show Metropolis was the winner of a New City award for best radio talk show host in Chicago. Elizabeth holds a B.A. in history from the University of Virginia and a B.F.A. in sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She leads Oral Health America's multi-year Campaign for Oral Health Parity, reaching over 50 percent of U.S. households with messages about oral health, and is the author of Oral Health America’s annual state-by-state report cards, and a recent report, “A State of Decay: Oral Health and Older Americans,” which was released in September 2003 at a Senate Special Committee on Aging forum and and quoted extensively by the ranking member, Senator John Breaux.

PR Professional of the Year: Government

Stacie M. Rivera
Director, Community & Public Relations
Department of Veterans Affairs/VA Medical Center

Currently serving as the Director of Community & Public Relations at the Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, Stacie is responsible for the planning and implementation of the public relations/marketing program for the 354-bed acute care facility. This involves counseling senior management as well as coordinating the Medical Center’s communication/public relations efforts to employees, patients, and the community. Rivera has held this position since April 1999.

With an extensive background in health care and government public relations, she has served as an assistant in the PR office since 1993. She served as President for the Louisiana Society for Hospital Public Relations and Marketing from 2003-2004 and remains active in the New Orleans Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and New Orleans Area Health Care Communicators. She is also a member of Women for a Better Louisiana and is the recipient of the 1998 New Orleans Federal Executive Board’s Outstanding Administrative employee. Stacie is an adjunct Professor of Communications at Loyola University New Orleans. Rivera has implemented various leadership programs for the network, served as Chair and Host for the VA’s 2004 National Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs Training Conference with over 300 in attendance and has served as a member of the Veterans Health Administration’s Communications Advisory Board for its 158 VA hospitals nationwide.

Crisis Manager

Mat Wilcox
Founder and Principal
Wilcox Group

Mat Wilcox heads up the Wilcox Group, one of Canada’s largest PR agencies, with offices in Toronto and Vancouver. She oversees all strategic planning, issues and crisis management and consumer marketing communications for the agency. Over the 20 years she has worked in the public relations profession, she has had the opportunity to work with some of North America’s leading companies. Since founding Wilcox Group in 1995, she has worked with companies such as Starbucks, Electronic Arts Canada, Yum! Restaurants International, KFC/priszm brandz inc., Virgin Megastores and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

In the past twelve months, Mat has dealt with some of the biggest crises to hit British Columbia and Canada in decades, including representing the B.C. poultry industry during the avian influenza crisis in Western Canada. Quick action led to continuing high consumer confidence in the safety of poultry products despite the depopulation of the entire 19 million poultry bird stock. She was also instrumental in bringing economic relief to Interior B.C. residents through the organization of a corporate fundraising partnership.

Wilcox Group received the 2003 international Platinum PR Award in the Pro Bono category for providing public relations services for the October 2002 Concert for Cancer, which raised an unprecedented $1.75 million (CDN). In addition to her work for the BC Cancer Foundation, Mat has lent her time and services to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and the YWCA.

PR Executive of the Year: Media Relations

Wayne Catan
President
Catan Communications

Wayne heads up Catan Communications, a New Jersey-based public relations firm that Wayne founded in 1997. Wayne is best known for his work with Pets.com (made famous by its irreverent Sock Puppet). Over the past 12 months and presently, Catan’s work has included media efforts for College Sports Television, Columbia University, NYC2012, PEANUTS (Snoopy), Raggedy Ann, Dilbert, among other blue-chip clients. Wayne was named Solo PR Practitioner of the year by PR Week magazine in 2001 and is a recipient of the Dellinger Award, which is presented to the nation’s top wrestling writer. Wayne writes for Amateur Wrestling News in his spare time.